The coronavirus pandemic wiped out 255 million full-time jobs in 2020, threatening the return to the labour market of a generation of women, young workers and low-skilled employees. Millions of more people suffered a substantial cut in their working hours, causing a crisis of income.
“The year 2020 has triggered a jobs crisis of unprecedented magnitude – around four times larger than what happened during the global financial crisis of 2007–2008,” Sher Verick, head of the Employment Strategies Unit at the ILO’s Employment Policy Department, told.
According to the International Labour Organization’s report, global labour income dropped by an estimated $3.7 trillion in 2020, or 4.4 percent of the global gross domestic product of 2019.
The ILO estimates that the global decline in employment was around 114 million in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2021, the Americas, Europe and Central Asia are expected to suffer working-hour losses more than twice as large as those in other regions.
