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The study on the labour market across different countries gives an idea about the global challenges in the world of work. The persistent inequalities and exclusion make it difficult to establish a clear vision of global employment and social trends. To address today’s policy challenges a critical reflection of methods and concepts with innovations is needed. The potential in work must be realised by the people of working age. Measurement is important to evaluate the growing perception that labour markets are not adequately providing the fruits of economic growth.
World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2020
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has initiated a survey report called WESO ‘World Employment and Social Trends’ that aims at the global unemployment, income generation and labour challenges. The ILO is an UN-based agency whose role is to promote decent work by setting global labour standards and social justice. ILO has declared that unemployment will rise by 2.5 million this year. This report indicates key labour market issues, labour underutilisation, income inequality and labour income share. ILO has published WESO which provides a global overview of the position of the world in terms of the labour market. The 2020 edition maps the progress made and achieving social justice and decent work.
Global Unemployment
About 188 million people around the world are under the category of unemployment.
The age between 15-24 which include the young people who are not employed, or are not in education or training and are in much more substandard working condition. Their number has increased to 267 million population.
As per ILO’s global report, a shortage in decent work combined with rising unemployment and persistent inequality is making it difficult to build better lives through work.
The unemployment has been overtaken by the total labour underutilisation twice and is affecting more than 470 million people across the world.
In 2019 the global unemployment rate was said to be 5.4 % and this is going to remain the same for almost 2 years.
Rising Working Poverty
The working poverty which means earning less than 3.20 USD/day in purchasing power parity terms is affecting more than 630 million workers among the total working population.
It is said to increase by 2.5 million in 2020, as global unemployment has been roughly stable for about 9 years.
This can become an obstacle to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 1 (eradicating poverty) by 2030.
The report showed that inequalities related to gender, age and geographical location continue to hinder the job market by limiting individual opportunity and economic growth.
Declining Global Labour Income
There are many factors that affect the global labour income and they are-
Slowdown of Global Economy- This is one of the main reasons for minimising the opportunities for new jobs to absorb new entrants to the labour market. Many African countries are facing rising poverty and a drop in incomes.
Inequalities- Work-related inequalities based on gender, age and geographical location prevent finding decent work in a better future.
Rising Protectionism- Some nations have trade restrictions and protectionism and a rise in this can limit the national and international employment generation.
Value of Human Capital- Sometimes the economies and societies are missing the potential benefits of human talents due to poor job qualities and labour underutilisation
Conclusion
The report on world employment and social outlooks 2020, has focused on the inequality in low-income countries, they have owed to the reliance on household expenditure as a proxy of total income. The new labour income data also signifies that the earlier research on working poverty and global income underestimated the low-income activities. Global income inequality is more pronounced than before. The shared income accruing to the upper class is larger and smaller for low-income countries, while the share accruing to the middle and upper-middle classes, was previously thought to be similar across countries.
Thus, the report suggests that the reduction of poverty and better working conditions can be brought about by ensuring efficient economic growth and development across the countries. The middle-income countries that have undergone economic crises can achieve strong employment growth in the near future in terms of the global economy.
