Despite recent improvements, further progress in labour market conditions remains largely dependent upon a broader and sustained economic recovery. Although unemployment has declined in response to renewed job creation, large job gaps remain in many countries with deep scars from the crisis both for people with work and those without. The unemployed have borne considerable personal, economic and social costs that may prove to be long-lasting. This is especially true for those who have endured a long spell of joblessness, who are facing a depreciation of their skills and a risk of labour market exclusion. Among those who have kept their jobs, an increasing number of workers and their families have experienced economic hardship as a result of declines in the spending power of their earnings from work. The crisis has also deepened a long-standing issue of poor job quality in advanced and emerging countries alike.