ISLAMABAD: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said the net employment losses in Asia and the Pacific region amounted to about 58 million in 2020 owing to the pandemic while 39m of the workers exited the labour force.

       Across Asia and the Pacific, the total working time in 2020 fell by the equivalent of over 130m full-time jobs, according to the World Employment and Social Outlook Report 2022 that the ILO office in Islamabad released on Tuesday.

       The pandemic is estimated to have driven over 2m workers below the extreme poverty line in Asia and the Pacific in 2020. In addition, 1.6m workers fell below the moderate poverty line, reversing some of the progress made in poverty reduction in the recent decades.

       Among the groups most vulnerable to the pandemic in the Asia-Pacific region are migrant workers and informal workers who account for high shares of employment in some of the heavily hit sectors, according to the ILO report.

       It says the region’s labour market recovery is projected to be slow: labour force participation rates and employment-to-population ratios are expected to remain below their pre-crisis levels through 2023 in all sub-regions.

       Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022