China News Service, Beijing, January 25 (Liu Liang) The International Labor Organization's "ILO Monitoring Report" released on the 25th shows that after the new crown pneumonia epidemic caused unprecedented damage in 2020, the global labor market is showing signs of recovery.

With the implementation of the vaccination plan, most countries will experience a relatively strong recovery in the second half of the year.

　　The latest annual data estimate that compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, the global working hours fell by 8.8% last year, which is equivalent to a reduction of 255 million full-time jobs (assuming 48 hours of work per week).

This is about 4 times more than the lost working hours during the 2009 global financial crisis.

These lost working hours are mainly caused by the reduction in working hours of employees and loss of employment.

　　It is worth noting that 71% of these employment losses (81 million people) are in the form of economic inactivity, rather than unemployment.

This means that people may leave the labor market because they cannot work due to the restrictions of the epidemic, or they may simply stop looking for work.

If we only look at the unemployment rate, we greatly underestimate the impact of the epidemic on the labor market.

　　These large-scale employment losses have led to a decline in global labor income by 8.3% (excluding support measures), which is equivalent to US$3.7 trillion or 4.4% of global GDP.

　　The report shows that in the labor market, women and young workers are more significantly affected.

In terms of industries, the most severely affected industries are accommodation and catering services, where the employment rate has dropped by more than 20% on average, followed by retail and manufacturing.

The report emphasizes that if corrective measures are not taken, the industries and workers most affected may be left behind in the recovery, leading to increased inequality.

　　Looking ahead, although there is still a lot of uncertainty, the latest forecast for 2021 shows that with the implementation of the vaccination plan, most countries will experience a relatively strong recovery in the second half of the year.

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