With economic growth having stalled in 2020 — owing to the prolonged lockdown — formal sector employment was severely compromised and fell by 7.9% y/y. Pressure is still mounting on the public sector to reduce employment numbers as a result of the precarious and deteriorating condition of government finances. The difficult employment conditions will mean that pressure on HDI will remain until the Covid-19 threat has diminished significantly, and employment may decline further by 1.3% in 2021 before some recovery of 4.2% in 2022. However, under current conditions and policies, formal employment numbers will most likely only return to pre-Covid levels by 2026.
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