Geneva: The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on work is more difficult than previously thought, and the recovery of two concerned speeds emerged between richer and poorer countries, the UN International Labor Organization warned Wednesday.
“The current labor market path is a traffic jam, with a large risk of decrease, and a large divergence between advanced and developing economies,” said Guy Ryder Ilo’s head.
“The distribution of vaccines dramatically, and the same fiscal capacity pushes this trend, and both need to be addressed immediately.” The ILO projects that global hours working in 2021 will be 4.3 percent lower than the fourth quarter of 2019, before the outbreak of pandemic.
That’s equivalent to 125 million full time work.
In June, the ILO has projected a decline of 3.5 percent, or 100 million full-time work.
High-income countries fate better, suffering from 3.6 percent decrease in total working hours in the third quarter of this year, ILO counts.
It was comparable to falling 5.7 percent for low-income countries and 7.3 percent for lower middle-income countries.
According to regions, Europe and Asia are experiencing the smallest loss of working hours, and the largest Arab countries, with divergence are mostly driven by a big difference in the vaccine roll-out and fiscal stimulus package, the report said.
The ILO also found that young people, especially young women, have been among the most devastated with the impact of pandemic work.
The ILO estimates that if low-income countries have better access to vaccines, working hours recovery will pursue a richer economy only at a quarter.
It is estimated that for every 14 people fully vaccinated in the second quarter of this year, one full-time equivalent job was added to the global labor market.
In early October, 59.8 percent were fully vaccinated in high-income countries, compared with only 1.6 percent in low-income countries, according to the ILO.
Ryder said at a press conference that the prospect in front was “weak and uncertain”, with the fourth quarter of 2021 is expected to only see a simple recovery in working hours.
The significant reduction risk on the horizon includes energy prices, inflation and debt pressure, while in low and medium-sized income countries, fiscal constraints are expected to inhibit further progress.