The International Labour Organization (ILO) said that the global employment growth is expected to slow down sharply to 1% this year compared to 2% in 2022, due to the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine, high inflation and tighter monetary policy.

At the same time, it said the number of unemployed people in the world is expected to rise by 3 million to 208 million in 2023. ILO further stated that the progress in reducing the number of informal jobs in the world is also likely to be reversed in the coming years.

The ILO said, “The current slowdown means that many workers will have to accept lower quality jobs, often at very low pay, sometimes with insufficient hours. Furthermore, as prices rise faster than nominal labour incomes, the cost-of-living crisis risks pushing more people into poverty.”

The global jobs forecast is lower than the previous ILO estimate of 1.5% growth for 2023. The situation could worsen further if the global economy slows down.

Richard Samans, Director of the ILO’s Research Department said, “The slowdown in global employment growth means that we don’t expect the losses incurred during the COVID-19 crisis to be recovered before 2025.”