The global unemployment rate will increase slightly in 2024, the United Nations said Wednesday as it raised concerns about stagnant productivity, worsening inequalities and inflation biting into disposable income.

The UN’s labour agency said the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down, with ongoing geopolitical tensions and persistent inflation triggering aggressive moves by central banks.

That said, global growth in 2023 was modestly higher than anticipated, and labour markets showed surprising resilience, the International Labour Organization said.

However, real wages declined in most of the G20 countries as wage increases failed to keep pace with inflation, said the ILO.

The 2022 global unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent and made a modest improvement last year to 5.1 percent.

However, in 2024 an extra two million workers are expected to be looking for jobs, raising the global unemployment rate to 5.2 percent.

Disposable incomes have declined in the majority of G20 nations and, generally, the erosion of living standards resulting from inflation is “unlikely to be compensated quickly”, the ILO said.

Widening inequalities and stagnant productivity are causes for concern, the ILO said in its World Employment and Social Outlook Trends report for 2024.

The study assesses the latest labour market trends, including unemployment, job creation, labour force participation and hours worked — then links those to their social outcomes.

The report found that some of the data, notably on growth and unemployment, are “encouraging”, ILO chief Gilbert Houngbo said.

But a “deeper analysis reveals that labour market imbalances are growing and that, in the context of multiple and interacting global crises, this is eroding progress towards greater social justice”, Houngbo added.

The report found that only China, Russia and Mexico “enjoyed positive real wage growth in 2023”.

Real wages fell in other G20 countries, with Brazil (6.9 percent), Italy (five percent) and Indonesia (3.5 percent) experiencing the sharpest declines.

“Falling living standards and weak productivity combined with persistent inflation create the conditions for greater inequality and undermine efforts to achieve social justice,” said Houngbo.

“And without greater social justice we will never have a sustainable recovery.”

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U.S. President Joe Biden warned Friday that Donald Trump’s efforts to retake the White House in 2024 pose a grave threat to the country, the day before the third anniversary of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by then-president Trump’s supporters aiming to keep him in power.

Speaking near Valley Forge, Penn., where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a bleak winter nearly 250 years ago, Biden said that Jan. 6 2021, marked a moment where “we nearly lost America — lost it all.”

He said the presidential race — a likely rematch with Trump, who is the far-and-away GOP front-runner — is “all about” whether American democracy will survive.

“We all know who Donald Trump is,” Biden said. “The question we have to answer is: Who are we?”

Biden laid out Trump’s role in the Capitol attack, where a mob of the Republican’s supporters overran the building while lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes that certified Democrat Biden’s win.

More than 100 police officers were bloodied, beaten and attacked by the rioters who overwhelmed authorities to break into the building.

“What’s Trump done? He’s called these insurrectionists ‘patriots,'” Biden said, “and he promised to pardon them if he returns to office.”

Joe Biden Added

He excoriated Trump for “glorifying” rather than condemning political violence.

At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day died during or after the rioting, including several officers who died by suicide, a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who authorities said suffered medical emergencies.

Biden said that by “trying to rewrite the facts of Jan. 6, Trump is trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election.”

“Donald Trump’s campaign is about him,” Biden said, saying it was Trump’s aim to get retribution on his political enemies. “Not America. Not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.”

He added: “There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do.”

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Afolabi Stephen Opaso, A 19 years old killed by Winnipeg police is being remembered as a good friend who had a passion for dancing and music.

Afolabi Stephen Opaso died after being shot on Sunday by officers who were responding to a well-being call at an apartment on University Crescent. Opaso, originally from Nigeria, was an international student at the University of Manitoba.

(Clinton and late Afolabi

Clinton Ajayi, a childhood friend of the 19 years old Opaso, remembers him as a happy teen who was there for the people in his life.

‘Trying to comprehend’ friend’s death

In a social media post, the University of Manitoba Nigerian Student Association called Opaso’s death “tragic,” saying he “met a brutal end while grappling with a mental health crisis.”

“We are saddened by the loss of one of our own. This distressing event has ignited pain, fear, and frustration within our community, prompting us to demand answers,” the association’s president, Olivia Ifeoma Onyemaenu, wrote in a Thursday post on Instagram.

The Nigerian Association of Manitoba also expressed condolences to Opaso’s family and friends in its own Instagram post.

The association acknowledged “the anxiety, frustration, sadness and distress this incident has caused within our community,” but president Vera Obehi Keyede urged everyone “to remain calm and composed as investigations are underway.”

Both Elahwal and Ajayi say they’re still coming to terms with a death they say Opaso didn’t deserve.

“Everyone is still trying to comprehend and wrap their heads around the unfortunate circumstance,” Elahwal said.

“We’ve all been in touch with each other. We’ve all been trying to support each other through what happened. The main concern right now is getting justice for him and his family,” he said.

“I’ve been crying since,” said Ajayi.

One of the last times he saw his friend, Opaso encouraged Ajayi to be good and stay out of trouble in the United States.

If he’d known more about Opaso’s challenges in Canada, Ajayi said he would have offered advice and returned the favour.

“He has always been there for me.”

Experienced mental health crisis: lawyer

In a news release following Opaso’s death, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba — the police watchdog agency that is now investigating the shooting — said that police notified them officers responding to the well-being call arrived to find a man with two other people in a suite at the University Crescent apartment block.

Officers were confronted by an armed man, who was then shot, the IIU’s release said.

On Monday, Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth told reporters the 19-year-old was armed with two knives.

Earlier this week, a lawyer speaking for Opaso’s family said he was experiencing a mental health episode the day he died.

Opaso had also gone to the hospital for a different episode last July, Jean-René Dominique Kwilu told CBC.

“He sort of experienced a psychosis,” the lawyer said. “[His family] didn’t know … where it came from, because it was the first time it happened to him.”

Opaso was admitted, assessed and released, “and after that, everything was fine,” Kwilu said.

He said he didn’t know whether Opaso had been prescribed any medication or received any counselling afterwards.

Ajayi said he didn’t know about Opaso’s mental health struggles.

“Last year, he was feeling good — like, he’s always being happy.”

Stay tuned for more updates