Global unemployment is expected to fall below pre-pandemic levels in 2023 to 191 million (5.3% of the working population), according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
While welcome news, it doesn’t take long to grasp how little this means for the majority of the world’s workforce.
As the ILO itself makes clear, recovery is being led by high-income countries, with low-income countries lagging far behind, worsening what the organization calls ‘the global employment divide’. Unemployment rates are particularly high in African and Arab countries where they sit stubbornly above pre-pandemic levels.
And an improving employment picture in some parts of the world masks the global reality that having a job hardly guarantees a dignified life.