Global unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic will be far worse than predicted, with 1.6bn workers in the informal economy facing “massive damage” to their livelihoods, the International Labour Organization has warned.
The UN agency estimated that global working hours in the second quarter of the year would be equivalent to the loss of 305m full-time jobs compared with the end of 2019. Just two weeks ago it had forecast a second-quarter fall in working hours equivalent to 195m full-time job losses.
The worst affected will be people working in informal sectors — often in poorer countries that lack resources to support businesses and protect jobs as global trade has been devastated by the pandemic.