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03:29
The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare some of the existing problems in the labor market, such as gaps in social protection and job adaptability, and countries around the world should begin to change and learn from the labor crisis, said the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) yesterday.
Stefano Scarpetta, OECD's director of Employment, Labor and Social Affairs, said countries should rethink how they approach jobs as the labor market has fundamentally shifted following COVID-19.
"I think it will be an issue if we just go back to the labor market we had before," said Scarpetta in an interview with CGTN on Tuesday.
"That's why we need economic growth. We need job creation. But we need to accompany the economic growth in a context in which we still have to coexist with the virus," he added.
"Which means that we have to ensure the safety of workers in the workplace. We have to continue to use tele-work, and we have to assist and support all of those that, for one reason or the other, may actually not be able to go back to work and might be at risk of having a significant drop in income, if not moving to poverty," said Scarpetta.
Earlier on Tuesday, the OECD released its latest employment outlook report that said that the pandemic will cast a long shadow over the global economy and labor market as the pandemic has turned from a public health crisis to a major economic and job crisis that eclipses the Great Depression.
The report, OECD Employment Outlook 2020: Worker Security and the COVID-19 Crisis, predicts a six percent annual decline in global GDP for 2020 and a record 9.4-percent plunge in OECD-wide unemployment rate in 2020 and still 7.7 percent in 2021.
Data shows that the unemployment rate in the OECD area stood at 8.4 percent in May. That's down from a decade high of 8.5 percent in April. The report also said unemployment rate may reach 9.4 percent in the fourth quarter of this year.
It said that women, young people and low-income workers are being hit the hardest.
OECD: Crisis revealed labor market issues
Scarpetta said the crisis has revealed and laid bare some of the problems in the labor market, including the gap in social protection, and this period is an opportunity for governments to fix some of these problems.
"The self employed, those on temporary contracts, sometimes even at the part timers and the gig workers did not receive sufficient income support," he said, adding that in some countries like the U.S. or Korea, they were not even entitled to sick leave.
To close the gap in social protection, he said governments can invest more on training for young people as well as those who need to adapt to a changing labor market. He said COVID-19 is accelerating some of the ongoing changes, including the digitization and the automation of many activities.
Scarpetta said that the world can learn from the previous global financial crisis, in which youth unemployment skyrocketed, but governments were late to provide the support that the young people needed.
"What we have seen is that the youth unemployed is persistent at a pretty high level, even when the other unemployment rates are declining. And we know that the first year of work for young people is essential for their medium, if not the longer-term prospect in the labor market," he said.
"So this time around, I think we have to do better," he said, saying policymakers can provide guidance, training, and also re-training. He said globally, governments can emulate Europe's youth guarantee program in which all young graduates are provided jobs.
