Return to pre-virus job levels far off

GENEVA: The outlook for the global labour market in the second half of 2020 is “highly uncertain” and the forecast recovery will not be enough for employment to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said yesterday.

In its latest report, the UN labour agency said that the fall in global working hours was “significantly worse than previously estimated” in the first half of the year, with the Americas the hardest-hit region.

An estimated 14% of working hours were lost in the second quarter, equivalent to 400 million full-time jobs, the ILO said.