The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported Monday that the various variants of Covid-19 that have been affecting the world have significantly increased global unemployment, even though the economy and the labor market grew slightly in 2021.

According to the ILO report, which is cited by the Lusa news agency, which forecasts the labor market for 2022, there will be 52 million more unemployed people at the beginning of this year compared to the last four months of 2019 (the last four months without a pandemic).

This is a downward revision of previous forecasts, which pointed to 26 million more unemployed in 2022 over the same period.

In percentage terms, this means that "the overall labor force participation rate will be 1.2 percentage points above the 2019 rate," the ILO report states.

The ILO predicts that by 2022, worldwide unemployment will drop from 214 million in 2021 to 206 million. And in 2019, there were 186 million unemployed.

The targets, revised downward by the Geneva-based organization, reflect "the impact that recent variants of Covid-19, such as Delta and Omicron, have had on the world of work, as well as creating uncertainty in the course of the pandemic," the ILO said in a statement.

The impacts will be long-lasting, estimates the 'World Employment and Social Outlooks' (WESO) report, estimating that the number of unemployed will not reach pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

The WESO report also warns that there are "marked differences in the impact the crisis is having on various groups of workers and countries."

"These differences are deepening inequalities between countries and weakening the social, economic and financial fabric of almost all nations, regardless of their state of development. This damage will take years to repair, with lasting consequences on labour force participation, household incomes and, possibly, political cohesion," the ILO notes.

Source Lusa