2 Employment and social trends by region

Abstract

Chapter 2 provides an analysis of the impacts of the COVID‐19 crisis since its onset, and of the divergent courses of recovery initiated across the world’s regions in 2021, as determined by the incidence of new waves of the virus, vaccine roll‐out, renewed containment measures, fiscal policies and other macroeconomic factors. For each region, key labour market indicators are first analysed, alongside an assessment of the region’s recovery prospects by 2023. The regional sections then focus on structural issues made more urgent by the pandemic. Specifically, these are the challenges of realigning growth and the creation of decent work in Africa, initiating structural change and private sector development in the Arab States, curbing growing capital–labour imbalances in North America, intensifying formalization in Latin America and the Caribbean, improving working conditions and productivity in the rapidly growing services subsectors in Asia and the Pacific, and facilitating labour market entry and labour force participation in Europe and Central Asia. The Chapter argues that recovery policies must address the root causes of decent work deficits, and that multilateral action and global solidarity are more important than ever to counter widening gaps and set the world back on a more equitable and sustainable trajectory.