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World of Work Report 2013
Report

World of Work Report 2013

Repairing the Economic and Social Fabric

ILO
ILO, 2013
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Analytical
  • Scientific

Recommendation

Despite pockets of improvement in global employment since the financial crisis, many skeptics have characterized the current economic environment as a jobless recovery and expect unemployment to increase in 2014. This report from the International Institute for Labour Studies takes a hard look at the economic facts behind the published statistics. It makes a persuasive argument for ways in which countries might help improve their job and income prospects and thereby stimulate their economic growth. Those in favor of government involvement in addressing economic problems will find ample backing for their position here, while supporters of limited government are likely to disagree with this paper’s conclusions. Nonetheless, from its always-neutral perch, getAbstract believes this well-researched paper provides substantial food for thought on the topic of chronic global unemployment.

Summary

An Uneven Recovery

While the worldwide employment picture has brightened since the 2008 economic crisis, it’s still not back to pre-crisis levels. Globally, the employment rate – “the proportion of people of working age who have a job” – stood at 55.7% at the end of 2012, almost a full percentage point below the 2007 year-end rate. That difference translates into a missing 14 million jobs. Add to those the 16.7 million positions that young people entering the workforce in 2013 will require, and you have a “net global deficit” of almost 31 million jobs.

Fully a third of the world’s economies saw unemployment continue to climb following the crisis, while another 37% have had insufficient jobs improvement. The labor situation is particularly grim in the advanced economies. Among the 37 countries in this grouping, only six – Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta and Switzerland – had higher employment rates in 2012 than before the crisis; more than half of the rest have experienced deterioration in their employment figures. Based on current trends, employment rates among advanced economies will not return to pre-2008 levels until 2018, about three years after developing...

About the Author

An independent arm of the International Labour Organization, the International Institute for Labour Studies conducts research and educational programs on work-related issues.

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