Unemployed population may rise in 2023; Nearly 21 cr may become jobless: Report

The latest report by the United Nations agency has given a negative forecast regarding the job sector for 2023. The International Labour Organization (ILO)'s latest report has predicted a whopping rise in the unemployment rate this year.

ILO's report stated that growth is expected to slow down sharply to 1% this year due to the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine, high inflation, and tighter monetary policy. ILO's latest job forecast is lower than its previous estimate of 1.5% growth for 2023.

The number of unemployed people in the world is expected to rise by 3 million (30 lakh) to 208 million (20.8 crore) in 2023--an increased unemployment rate of 5.8%, while inflation will eat into real wages, the report added.

"The slowdown in global employment growth means that we don't expect the losses incurred during the Covid-19 crisis to be recovered before 2025," said Richard Samans, Director of the ILO's Research Department and coordinator of its newly published report.

The report added that "as prices rise faster than nominal labour incomes", a crisis related to the cost of living will develop, and will push more people into poverty.

The situation could worsen further if the global economy slows down, ILO added.

ILO director-general Gilbert Houngbo said the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic was particularly patchy in low- and middle-income countries and was further hampered by climate change and humanitarian challenges.

"Projections of a slowdown in economic and employment growth in 2023 imply that most countries will fall short of a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels in the foreseeable future," the former prime minister of Togo said.

NO COVID  RECOVERY BEFORE 2025

Global employment grew by 2.3% last year but is expected to expand by just 1% this year, to nearly 3.4 billion people with work.

Meanwhile, the global jobs gap stood at 47.3 crore in 2022.

This number comprises unemployment plus those who want work but are not seeking a job, either due to being discouraged by previous failed attempts or having other obligations such as care responsibilities.

The 2022 global jobs gap was around 3.3 crore above the 2019 level, with a rate of 15% for women and 10.5% for men.

RISE IN INFORMAL JOBS

"The current slowdown means that many workers will have to accept lower quality jobs, often at very low pay, sometimes with insufficient hours," the ILO said.

The report said people aged 15 to 24 were facing "severe difficulties" in finding and keeping decent employment.

The ILO called for an investment surge in education and training, saying two-thirds of the global youth labour force was "without a basic set of skills", which limited their job prospects and pushed them into lower-quality work.

Around two billion workers worldwide were in informal employment in 2022, the ILO added.