The global labor market will take longer to recover than previously thought, according to a recent report by the International Labour Organization, as the world goes through a pandemic recovery tainted by the response to the Omicron variant. “The International Labour Organization (ILO) has downgraded its forecast for labor market recovery in 2022, projecting a deficit in hours worked globally equivalent to 52 million full-time jobs, relative to the fourth quarter of 2019,” said the news release of the “World Employment and Social Outlook—Trends 2022” report (pdf) published Monday. Although the number of global hours worked is better than that of 2021, it still remains nearly two percent below the pre-pandemic levels, according to the U.N.-based agency. The main reason given for the 2022 downgrade was the uncertainties around the “future course of the pandemic,” as well as the current impact of Omicron and Delta variants on working conditions around …