WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - Slower than expected vaccine rollouts and a resurgence of coronavirus variants in early 2021 have dampened the global jobs recovery forecast, with losses in both working hours and employment remaining high throughout this year and into 2022, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned on Wednesday.
The ILO said in its latest report that employment growth will be too weak to provide sufficient opportunities for people who lost jobs or working hours during the height of the pandemic and in the months that followed.
The equivalent of 10 million full time jobs in working hours will remain lost this year, boosting the equivalent of jobs lost during the pandemic to 100 million. That is 10 million more than the ILO had forecast in January.
Despite economies rebounding from the depths of their pandemic lows and quick action by governments to pass much-needed fiscal stimulus, the pandemic induced shortfall in jobs is estimated to remain at 75 million in 2021, and fall to 23 million in 2022.
Last year, global labor income was $3.7 trillion or 8.3 percent lower than the estimated pre-pandemic forecast – and the loss spilled over into the first half of 2021, with a decrease of $1.3 trillion or 5.3 percent.