The United Nations announced on Wednesday that the global unemployment rate is expected to experience a slight increase in 2024.
The UN’s labor agency expressed concerns about stagnant productivity, escalating inequalities, and inflation impacting disposable income.
The agency noted that the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has decelerated, citing ongoing geopolitical tensions and persistent inflation as factors prompting assertive measures by central banks.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) reported that despite concerns, global growth in 2023 exceeded expectations, and labor markets displayed unexpected resilience.
However, the ILO highlighted that real wages decreased in most G20 countries as wage hikes failed to match the pace of inflation.
The global unemployment rate, which was 5.3 percent in 2022, experienced a modest improvement last year, dropping to 5.1 percent.
However, In 2024, an additional two million workers are anticipated to seek employment, leading to a projected increase in the global unemployment rate to 5.2 percent.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has reported a decline in disposable incomes across most G20 nations, and the erosion of living standards due to inflation is unlikely to see swift compensation, according to the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends report for 2024.
The ILO expressed concerns about widening inequalities and stagnant productivity in its report for 2024.
The research evaluates current trends in the labor market, encompassing aspects such as unemployment, job generation, labor force participation, and hours worked. It establishes connections between these factors and their corresponding social outcomes.
The report found that some of the data, notably on growth and unemployment, are “encouraging”, ILO chief Gilbert Houngbo said.
But a “deeper analysis reveals that labour market imbalances are growing and that, in the context of multiple and interacting global crises, this is eroding progress towards greater social justice”, Houngbo added.
The report found that only China, Russia and Mexico “enjoyed positive real wage growth in 2023“.
Real wages fell in other G20 countries, with Brazil (6.9 percent), Italy (five percent) and Indonesia (3.5 percent) experiencing the sharpest declines.
Houngbo said, “Falling living standards and weak productivity combined with persistent inflation create the conditions for greater inequality and undermine efforts to achieve social justice.
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“And without greater social justice we will never have a sustainable recovery.“