LONDON — The United Nations’ International Labour Organization has warned that job market recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic looks Set to slow down in 2022

The 2022 World Employment and Social Outlook Trends report outlines these trends. reportThe ILO published Monday a forecast that global hours of work in 2022 will be 1.8% less than the fourth quarter 2019, which was just before the outbreak of the pandemic.

ILO predicted that the deficit in working hours would grow even more in 2022, than what it had previously forecast. According to the ILO, the global fall in working hours in this year’s world would be equivalent to losing 52,000,000 full-time jobs. This is nearly twice the number of jobs it forecasted in May 2021.

Guy Ryder was the ILO’s director general. He stated that Monday’s report would be released on Monday and this “downside adjustment” is very significant.

Ryder stated that the slowdown expected in labor market recovery was due to a variety of factors, including the expansion of Covid variants such as delta or omicron.

ILO forecasts that the recovery of the labor market will remain slow through 2023.

Ryder stated that both the supply and demand of labor had been reduced by far-reaching economic and sociological changes brought about by the Covid crises. The ILO expects this trend to persist “as long the pandemic remains uncontrolled,” Ryder stated.

Global unemployment, according to ILO estimates, will rise from 186 million in 2019 to 207 million by 2022.

Ryder said, “Sustainable recovery” must include the principles of decent labor, employment creation and labor rights.

The guidance provided by the ILO in its call-to-action was cited. It was adopted in June 2021 by its 187 members. The ILO recommended that employers should offer incentives for workers to stay employed, including shorter work weeks.