Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021
Mains level: Unemployment since the pandemic
The report titled World Employment and Social Outlook was recently released by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
About the report
- The report analyses the impact of the crisis on the labour market across the world.
- It offers projections for recovery and gives details of the unequal impact of the crisis on different groups of workers and enterprises and calls for a broad-based human-centred recovery.
Findings of the report
- There has been an unprecedented disruption to labour markets worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the lives of the younger generation and brought about disruption to their education.
- Also made it more difficult for them to enter the labour market and hold on to their jobs.
- The pandemic worsened long-standing inequalities with many women workers dropping out of the labour force.
- For informal and low-skilled workers, working from home was not an option.
- Many had to face huge health risks to keep their jobs, often with no access to social security benefits.
Major highlights of the report
- Global unemployment is expected to be at 205 million in 2022, surpassing the 2019 level of 187 million.
- The jobs shortfall induced by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was 75 million in 2021 and is expected to be 23 million in 2022.
- An estimated additional 108 million workers and their family members now live in poverty.
The long road to recovery
- The recovery would remain fragile in many countries due to the uneven rollout of vaccination campaigns and higher levels of public debt and deficits that would make it difficult to tackle the effects of the pandemic.
- There is an urgent need to build back better — create productive employment opportunities and foster long-term labour market prospects for the most vulnerable.
- There is a need to strengthen social protection schemes like the MGNREGS in India and make sure nobody is left behind.
- This would require strong institutions and social dialogue and strong international cooperation to fight global disparities.
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