OECD: Post-Pandemic Recovery Must Focus On New Jobs

Employment levels remain lower than before the start of the pandemic in most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, according to a new report from the group, which says jobs must be the focus of economic and social recovery around the world.

Anout 22 million jobs were lost in OECD countries in 2020, among the 114 million global positions that fell victim to the coronavirus outbreak, according to an OECD press release. Even as the recovery has begun, there are over 8 million more people unemployed than before the pandemic.

The bad news doesn’t end there and likely won’t for a while, the release stated. The report predicts the employment rate in OECD countries will still be below pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2022, more than two years after the outbreak started.

“It will be very important to get policy settings right to encourage business investment and job creation, as well as to drive the necessary upskilling, re-skilling and skills matching required to ensure everyone has the best possible opportunity to participate and benefit from the recovery,” said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann as he introduced the report in Paris, per the release.

The OECD’s dire predictions fall in line with New York Fed leader John Williams’ plea to the U.S. Federal Reserve to hold off on ending support for the still-recovering economy.

Williams said the recovery process has been rocked by numerous shifts and disruptions, with inflation up due to supply bottlenecks and shortages. Inflation could rise to 3 percent this year, but it is predicted to abate to 2 percent, the Fed’s target, by next year.

The Group of 20 (G-20) economies saw their overall gross domestic product (GDP) return to levels from before the pandemic in this year’s first quarter.

China, where the pandemic first began, posted the highest annual growth with 18.3 percent. The U.K., meanwhile, had the largest annual drop with a 6.1 percent decline. The U.S. saw an acceleration of 1.6 percent.

In the release, Cormann touted investment in effective skills policies “to help businesses, start-ups as well as workers cope with transitions to occupations and sectors with high growth potential, including those relying on green technologies.”

More efforts should be made to promote a culture of lifelong learning and linking training to individuals rather than jobs, the release stated.