According to the Jobs Gap-a new indicator developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), a noticeably higher proportion of women than men would like to work but don’t have a job.
Key highlights
- The jobs gap for women is a stubborn and damaging reality of the global labour market but it is particularly worrying in developing countries, with almost one in four women unable to find a job, compared with 16.6 per cent of men.
- Women still have a much harder time finding a job than men.
- 15 per cent of working-age women globally would like to work but do not have a job, compared with 10.5 per cent of men, whereas unemployment levels are very similar for both sexes, because the criteria used to define unemployment tend to disproportionately exclude women.
- Personal and family responsibilities, including unpaid care work are among the reasons why women are disproportionately affected in the search for work. These activities can prevent them not only from being employed but also from actively searching for employment or being available to work at short notice.
- Between 2005 and 2022, women continued to be overrepresented in many vulnerable sectors, such as running their households or working for relatives, rather than for themselves.
- Significant differences exist between regions, with low and lower-middle income countries seeing far worse gender disparity in income, with women earning 33 cents and 29 cents on the dollar, respectively.
- In high-income and upper-middle income countries, women’s relative labour income reaches 58 and 56 cents respectively per dollar earned by men.
