With the COVID-19 vaccination drive picking up pace, leading to resumption of business activities in many parts of the world, job markets in various countries are starting to report strong recoveries.

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Though concerns remain over the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus, the nations that are ahead in vaccination have managed to move with gradual opening of economic activities. However, many countries continue to struggle with the COVID-19 situation with more lockdowns and restrictions in place.

Here are some countries that are witnessing strong recoveries in their job markets:

UAE

With over 82 percent of its population fully vaccinated, the country has loosened restrictions. Due to business activities and travel picking up, the country has been seeing an uptick in hiring across the hospitality and real-estate sectors, two of the biggest labour markets it has. The Emirate of Dubai in particular is going to become a tourist hub over the coming months due to a wide variety of events that are taking place. World Expo fair and IPL are expected to be two huge crowd pullers to the country.

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USA

The United States saw one of the worst job crises in the world during the pandemic, as unemployment levels hit a record high of 14.8 percent. But a strong (but now faltering) vaccination drive saw job numbers rise and the unemployment rate fall to 5.2 percent. The worst-hit states remain the tourist hotspots. The recovery has mostly been led by retail jobs and hiring across large companies.

Canada

The nation did not witness its peak unemployment rate until February 2021. But with a solid vaccination drive, numbers have been steadily declining as more jobs are being created. The unemployment rate has fallen to pre-COVID levels of 7.5 percent.

Many experts believe Canada will reach full employment by the end of the year. However, the impact of COVID-19 on the job market is complex as unlike previous cases, the rise in unemployment this time was due to a shortage of workers, especially those working at minimum wage across sectors like retail, hospitality and agriculture.

United Kingdom

The UK didn't experience a huge dip in unemployment levels, particularly due to employees being furloughed instead of being laid off. The country reached an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent, the highest in five years, but bolstered on the back of large state schemes to support individuals. While most regions in the country are already reaching pre-COVID employment levels, economic centres of London and South-East England, along with Scotland, still have a long way to go.

Finland

The Scandinavian nation managed to add 104,000 more jobs in August 2021, compared to a year ago. While the country has an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent, lower than 7.9 percent of the previous year, labour shortages are expected to hit the country.

The country's relatively high level of unemployment is due to the fact that the Finnish labour survey also counts students from the age group of 15 and upwards in statistics. These students look for part-time work opportunities often skewing the statistics slightly,

First Published:Sept 24, 2021 4:36 PM IST