The Asia-Pacific labour markets have shown signs of recovery from the effects of Covid-19, but full movement back towards pre-pandemic levels of employment remains elusive, according to a report published by the International Labour Organisation.
The Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022 report revealed that job growth has taken place in the Asia-Pacific region, but lags behind global levels. It found that there were job increases in 2021 and 2022, recovering from a 3.1% drop in employment in 2020.
“On the surface, the employment trends look positive. Digging deeper, there remain numerous signs that the region’s labour market is not yet back on its pre-crisis track,” the report said.
The report also found that employment growth in the region is positive, but the employment-to-population ratio in 2022 remains slightly below the pre-pandemic trend, dropping to 56.2% in 2022 from 56.9% in 2019.
“Had the disruption of the Covid-19 crisis never happened, there would have been a continued job gap of 22 million (1.1%) in 2022. The job gap is projected to increase again to 26 million (1.4%) in 2023 given the headwinds to growth foreseen in the current geopolitical global and regional context,” the report added.
