ILO / GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT DIVIDE

STORY: ILO / GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT DIVIDE
TRT: 01:34
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 31 MAY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:

1. Tilt down, exterior ILO Headquarters
2. Med shot, virtual press conference including Mia Seppo, ILO Assistant Director-General; and Sangheon Lee, Director of the ILO Employment Policy Department
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“Our world continues to face a complex combination of shocks and threats. Together, these mutually reinforcing crises have compromised prospects for labour market recovery, and without a labour market recovery we cannot have a sound economic and social recovery.”
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“I think one of the first headlines is that we have a growing global employment divide. So, the whole story of uneven recovery continues and continues when it comes to labour market recovery. The second, and this is evidenced by the data on old age pensions, is really to show that investing in social protection makes economic sense. There's actually gains in terms of GDP over a relatively short period of time in ensuring old time pensions. And I think the third message is that when you look at the least developed countries and the kind of toxic mix of crises, from debt distress to high interest rates and inflation, it really calls for these concerns to become a very urgent part in considering the reforms of the financial institutions and their architecture.”
5. Wide shot, exterior ILO Headquarters

STORYLINE

Mutually reinforcing crises, including rising debt levels, are disproportionately affecting developing countries, worsening the global employment divide between high-income and low-income countries, and widening existing inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

While global unemployment in 2023 is expected to fall below pre-pandemic levels - to 191 million, corresponding to a global unemployment rate of 5.3 percent – estimates show that low-income countries remain far behind in the recovery process, according to the ILO Monitor on the World of Work, 11th edition.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“Our world continues to face a complex combination of shocks and threats. Together, these mutually reinforcing crises have compromised prospects for labour market recovery, and without a labour market recovery we cannot have a sound economic and social recovery.”

Beyond unemployment rates, a new indicator developed by the ILO, the jobs gap, offers a more comprehensive measure of the unmet demand for employment, especially in developing countries. It captures all persons who would like to work but do not have a job.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“I think one of the first headlines is that we have a growing global employment divide. So, the whole story of uneven recovery continues and continues when it comes to labour market recovery. The second, and this is evidenced by the data on old age pensions, is really to show that investing in social protection makes economic sense. There's actually gains in terms of GDP over a relatively short period of time in ensuring old time pensions. And the third message is that when you look at the least developed countries and the toxic mix of crises, from debt distress to high interest rates and inflation, it really calls for these concerns to become a very urgent part in considering the reforms of the financial institutions and their architecture.”

ILO projects that low-income countries in Africa and the Arab region are unlikely to recover to pre-pandemic levels of unemployment this year. For North Africa, the unemployment rate in 2023 is projected to be 11.2 percent (10.9 percent in 2019); for Sub-Saharan Africa, 6.3 percent (5.7 in 2019); and for the Arab States 9.3 percent (8.7 in 2019). Other regions have managed to reduce their rates substantially below pre-crisis levels, with 6.7 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean (8.0 percent in 2019), 6.3 percent in Northern, Southern and Western Europe (7.0 percent in 2019), and 7.8 percent in central and Western Asia (9.2 percent in 2019).