NEW DELHI: Global unemployment is estimated to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020, the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation report has revealed.
The World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2020 (WESO) report states that global unemployment has been stable for the last nine years but slowing global growth means not enough new jobs are being generated to absorb new entrants to the labour market.
“For millions of ordinary people, it’s increasingly difficult to build better lives through work. Persisting and substantial work-related inequalities and exclusion are preventing them from finding decent work and better futures. That’s an extremely serious finding that has profound and worrying implications for social cohesion,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said.
Currently, there are approximately 188 million unemployed people in the world in addition to the 165 million people who are underpaid.
A further 120 million have either given up actively searching for work or otherwise lack access to the labour market, according to the report.
According to the report, around 470 million people are affected worldwide.
The ILO report said that moderate or extreme working poverty is expected to edge up in 2020-21 in developing countries.
“Labour underutilization and poor-quality jobs mean our economies and societies are missing out on the potential benefits of a huge pool of human talent,” said the report’s lead author, Stefan Kühn. “We will only find a sustainable, inclusive path of development if we tackle these kinds of labour market inequalities and gaps in access to decent work.”