FALLOUT from the Covid-19 pandemic has created an “unparalleled” labour market crisis that will last years, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports.

Its World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021 study, published on Wednesday, says that the crisis-induced “jobs gap” will reach 75 million in 2021 and that global unemployment will be 205 million in 2022, nearly 20 million above pre-pandemic levels.

The pandemic has also made pre-existing inequalities worse by hitting vulnerable workers harder, the report finds. The widespread lack of social protection — for example among the world’s two billion insecure workers — means that pandemic-related work disruptions have had catastrophic consequences for family incomes and livelihoods.