ILO sees unemployment in Nigeria, others falling in 2024

Global unemployment will fall this year even as inequalities in labour markets persist, with women in low-income countries particularly affected, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) report.

The UN agency expects the global unemployment rate at 4.9 percent in 2024, a decrease from 5.0 percent in 2023, down from an earlier projection of 5.2 percent. However, this decline is unlikely to continue in 2025.

“The new projections indicate that global unemployment will fall modestly this year even as inequalities in labour markets persist, with women in low-income countries particularly affected,” it said.

However, despite the downward outlook by ILO, the persistent lack of employment opportunities as the ‘jobs gap’ – which measures the number of persons without a job but who want to work – stands at 402 million persons in 2024. This includes 183 million people who are counted as unemployed.

The report added that the job gaps for women in low-income countries rose to 22.8 percent and 15.3 percent for men. This contrasts with high-income countries, where the rate is 9.7 percent for women and 7.3 percent for men,

It warned that these differences are just the “tip of the iceberg”, as significantly more women than men are completely detached from the labour market as family responsibilities can explain much of the difference seen in women’s and men’s employment rates.

“Even when women are employed, they tend to earn far less than men, particularly in low-income countries. While women in high-income countries earn seventy-three cents compared to a dollar earned by men, this figure drops to just forty-four cents in low-income countries,” it said.

Globally, the report estimated that 45.6 percent of women of working age were employed in 2024. For men, the figure was 69.2 percent.

“Despite our efforts to reduce global inequalities, the labour market remains an uneven playing field,” Gilbert Houngbo, ILO Director-General said.

“To achieve a sustainable recovery whose benefits are shared by all… we must place inclusion and social justice at the core of our policies and institutions,” Houngbo said.