The International Workers' Organization (ILO) reveals that this year more people may be forced to accept poorly paid jobs due to the global economic slowdown.

"The current global economic slowdown is likely to force more workers to accept low-quality, low-paid jobs that lack job security and social protection, thus accentuating the inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis," concludes the ILO's "World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2023" report, quoted by Human Resources.

In addition, the document forecasts growth of only 1% in the rate of new job vacancies, a slowdown compared to the 2.3% increase seen in 2022.

This year, around three million people will be affected by joblessness, bringing the figure to 208 million, which corresponds to a global unemployment rate of 5.8%, according to ILO estimates.

"Many workers will have to accept lower quality jobs, often with very low wages, sometimes with insufficient hours," and furthermore, "as prices are rising faster than nominal income from work, the cost of living crisis risks pushing more people into poverty," the organization warns.

The moderate increase in unemployment predicted by the ILO is mainly due to the low supply of labor in developed countries, but global unemployment will nevertheless remain 16 million above the pre-crisis reference value (set in 2019).

In addition to unemployment, "the quality of employment remains a key concern," the report says.

Progress in the poverty reduction process faltered for a decade during the Covid-19 pandemic and, although there was a recovery during 2021, "the continuing shortage of better employment opportunities is likely to worsen", says the ILO.

The deterioration of the labor market is due to the emerging geopolitical tensions and the conflict in Ukraine, the uneven recovery from the crisis caused by the pandemic and failures in supply chains, which have created conditions for stagflation (both high inflation and low growth) for the first time since the 1970s, says the ILO.

Africa and the Arab States are expected to see employment growth "of around 3% or more", but the organization says it is likely that both regions will see unemployment rates fall "only modestly" (from 7.4% to 7.3% in Africa and from 8.5% to 8.2% in the Arab States).