Poland, along with Australia, Japan and New Zealand, has the best chance of quickly returning jobs to 2019 levels, according to OECD’s Employment Outlook report. In OECD countries, the pandemic lost 22 million jobs. As a result, unemployment has risen, already starting to decline, but still above the pre-COVID-19 level (6.6% in May 2021 vs. 5.3% in December 2019). The situation is similar with the number of jobs, which is slowly growing in individual countries, but is still below the pre-vid statistics.
The OECD report shows that four countries, namely Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Poland, have the greatest chance of rapidly returning to pre-pandemic employment levels. It should take a year and a half, which is more or less now leveling off, as seen in In June 2021, the average employment in the enterprise sector was higher by 2.8% year-on-year and amounted to 6359.3 thousand, while the average monthly salary was higher by 9.8% year-on-year and amounted to PLN 5,802.42 gross.
Just after Poland, Japan, New Zealand and Australia are Germany, Greece and Korea, which will restore employment to the pre-pandemic level in less than two years. Austria, Denmark and Sweden will need 2.5 years. The last ones on the list are Iceland and Israel, which need over 5 years. Our southern neighbors, the Czech Republic will rebuild its employment level in five years, was also indicated.
“The strong economic rebound we are dealing with in our country translates directly into the labor market. There is a shortage of workers, wages are rising and there is no doubt that the employee market has returned. Hence, we rank so high in the OECD ranking, although we must remember, of course, that our situation also depends on what is happening in other countries. We should pay attention to, among other things, that Germany is also recovering quickly, being a competition for us in the fight for workers from Ukraine. And we need many of these. time, we are recording record numbers of orders from our customers who already need human resources from the East,” said Krzysztof Inglot, President of Personnel Service.
In its report, the OEDC warns of the risk of long-term unemployment, which may result from the slow return of the labor market to the pre-COVID-19 situation. According to experts, employment in OECD countries should return to pre-pandemic levels only in 2023, although the pace varies between countries, it was also reported.
Young people and people on low incomes are in the most difficult situation. According to the report, the number of young people not in employment, education or training has increased by almost 3 million in OECD countries. In addition, in 2020, the number of hours worked in low-wage occupations fell by over 28% in developed countries. This is 18 percentage points. more than in the case of high-paying professions.
Source: OECD and ISBnews
