<p>It is necessary to assess the latest temporal trend of trade-embodied employment for formulating timely policies to alleviate the global employment gap. Although the key role of international trade on global employment has been confirmed, there is a lack of research on the benefit of trade to create employment. Based on the multi-regional input–output model, we investigate global employment driven by consumption and international trade in 2012–2022. Furthermore, we construct export-obtained employment benefit (EEB) coefficient and import-promoted employment benefit (IEB) coefficient to quantify the benefit of exports to obtain employment and imports to promote employment, respectively. We found that developing economies presented as significant exporters of trade-embodied employment. Developed economies maintained the main importers of trade-embodied employment, while the role of China became increasingly significant. For the benefit of trade to create employment, Rest of Africa, India, and Rest of Asia and Pacific presented EEB higher than 3, exhibiting high benefit of exports to obtain employment, while the EEB of developed economies were lower than 1. As primary importers of trade-embodied employment, the IEB of the EU and China were higher than 1, showing high benefit of imports to promote employment, while the IEB of the US was lower than 1. This study can provide timely insights for policy making to promote global employment.</p>