The coronavirus pandemic has destroyed 22 million jobs in wealthy countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In a report Wednesday warning of the risk of a rapid rise in long-term joblessness, the Paris-based organization said that employment across OECD countries is not expected to recover to its pre-pandemic level before 2023."The strong economic recovery underway across OECD countries is yet to fully translate into enough new jobs to get employment levels back to pre-pandemic levels in most member economies," according to the report.
The pandemic has swelled the ranks of the unemployed in OECD countries by over 8 million in 2020, the group estimated. Another 14 million people are not actively looking for a job.
At the end of 2020, the number of people who had been unemployed for at least six months was 60% above its pre-pandemic level. That figure has continued to grow in the first quarter of 2021 and disproportionately affected already vulnerable groups, the report said.
+INFO: CNN
