This report provides an overview of global and regional trends in employment, unemployment, labour force participation and productivity, as well as dimensions of job quality such as employment status, informal employment and working poverty. It also examines income and social developments, and provides an indicator of social unrest.

Key findings are that are unemployment is projected to rise after a long period of stability, and that many people are working fewer paid hours than they would like or lack adequate access to paid work. The report also takes a close look at decent work deficits and persistent labour market inequalities, noting that income inequality is higher than previously thought.

Total labour underutilization is more than twice as high as unemployment, affecting over 470 million people worldwide
The second key message of this report is that the mismatch between labour supply and demand extends far beyond the 188 million unemployed across the world in 2019. An additional 165 million people are in employment but wish to work more paid hours.

Furthermore, around 120 million people are not classified as unemployed but are marginally attached to the labour market and could potentially enter employment in the near future. These people report that they are not looking for a job while being available for work, or that they are looking but are currently unavailable to take a job. In other words, more than 470 million people worldwide lack adequate access to paid work as such or are being denied the opportunity to work the desired number of hours. These findings show the value of a more comprehensive understanding and measurement of labour market underutilization in addition to the traditional unemployment rate measure.
Insufficient paid work affects almost half a billion people.

Geographical disparities in labour market outcomes often prompt workers to migrate in search of better opportunities. The share of the global working-age population living in urban areas is estimated to have risen from 50 per cent in 2005 to 55 per cent in 2019, indicating that substantial migration has occurred from the countryside to urban centres. Such migration has been strongest in upper-middle-income countries, where two-thirds of the working-age population in 2019 were estimated to be living in urban areas, an increase of more than 10 percentage points since 2005. Meanwhile,
international migration leads to additional challenges for the migrant workers concerned, who very often do not enjoy the same rights as the national population of the destination country.… and women and young people face additional obstacles to their participation in the labour market. Contemporary labour markets also continue to be characterized by gender inequality. In 2019, the female labour force participation rate was just 47 per cent, 27 percentage points below the male rate (at 74 per cent).