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Closed perfumery in Bonn (in January 2021): Retailers also have to worry about staff
Photo: Ying Tang / NurPhoto via Getty Images
There are sectors that are particularly suffering from a shortage of skilled workers in the corona crisis.
Despite the uncertainties caused by the pandemic, people are giving up their jobs and looking for something new.
According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), this phenomenon, which experts call “Covid clarity”, exists worldwide.
The ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations.
Many people have therefore rearranged their priorities in the pandemic and left their fields of activity.
In some sectors it is therefore becoming increasingly difficult to fill positions, said ILO Director General Guy Ryder in Geneva.
He named gastronomy, retail and nursing professions.
Labor markets are recovering more slowly than expected
During the pandemic, people have realized that their work isn't meeting their expectations or they're not getting the recognition they want, Ryder said.
For these and other reasons, many are not actively looking for work.
The true number of unemployed is therefore certainly higher than official statistics suggest.
According to official statistics, around 207 million people are expected to be unemployed worldwide this year, according to the ILO report on employment trends 2022.
That would be an improvement compared to 2021 (214 million) and 2020 (224 million).
In the year before the pandemic, 2019, there were only 189 million.
"Global labor markets are recovering much more slowly than expected," Ryder said.
The ILO expects the number of unemployed to remain above the pre-crisis level at least until 2023.
Reasons include the particularly contagious Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants and the uncertainty about the course of the pandemic.
According to ILO calculations, in 2022 there should be a working hour deficit compared to the end of 2019, which corresponds to 52 million full-time jobs with a 48-hour week.
Eight months ago, the ILO was even more optimistic and had expected a drop for this year that would have corresponded to only 26 million full-time jobs.
All figures are adjusted for population growth.
apr/dpa
