As global unemployment rises in 2024, the UN worries about stagnant productivity, inequality, and inflation eroding into disposable income.
Furthermore, the UN’s labor agency reports that central banks are acting aggressively due to geopolitical tensions and inflation, slowing the economic recovery from COVID-19.
Despite global GDP growing faster than predicted and labor markets showing unexpected resilience, the International Labour Organization (ILO) revealed that real wages decreased in most G20 nations in 2023 as wage hikes failed to keep up with the rate of global inflation.
Last year, the worldwide unemployment rate was 5.1%, but in 2022 it was 5.3%. The global unemployment rate is anticipated to rise to 5.2% in 2024 as two million more individuals seek jobs.
Most G20 countries have seen a fall in disposable income, and the ILO stated that the degradation of living standards brought on by inflation is “unlikely to be compensated quickly.”
In addition, the ILO noted in its World Employment and Social Outlook tendencies report for 2024 that rising inequality and stagnating productivity are alarming tendencies. The analysis examined current labor market trends including unemployment and labor force participation and connected them to social outcomes.
The assessment concluded that parts of the figures, notably on growth and unemployment, are “encouraging”, ILO Chief Gilbert Houngbo said. A a deeper examination of the data, however, reveals that there are widening disparities in the labor market and that the advancement of greater social justice is being undermined by the confluence of several interconnected global problems, according to CNA.
According to Houngbo, “low productivity, declining living standards, and ongoing inflation create the conditions for greater inequality and undermine efforts to achieve social justice.” “And we will never have a sustainable recovery without greater social justice.”
