Table of Contents

I. Labor Market Overview: 2021

II. 2021 Labor Market Sectoral Review

III. 2022 Employment Outlook

Summary

The labor market has made a strong recovery from the initial employment shock of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The total number of employed began to tick upward in March, after which monthly year over year (YoY) employment gains consistently hovered around the 600,000 mark, which is more than the decrease in the number of workers during 2020 by about 200,000. Seasonally-adjusted employment has recorded YoY growth for 8 consecutive months, having as of December 2021 reached 99.9% of pre-crisis (February 2020) levels. Assuming no sudden contraction of the global economy or domestic market, and ruling out any exceptional phenomena that might negatively impact the labor market, the total number of workers should increase by 243,000 in 2022.

It is worth noting, however, that patterns in employment growth in the first and second halves (H1, H2) of 2022 are likely to differ, owing to the base effect from 2021, where in H1 employment posted weak gains but in H2 exhibited a more robust recovery. Thus H1 2022 should see the total number of employed grow by 367,000 workers YoY, but H2 will see just 119,000 workers added to employment rolls.