Impact Of COVID-19: 225M Full-time Job Loss Recorded Worldwide

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 255 million full-time jobs lost last year due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, in a report by the Associated Press (AP), said the COVID-19 pandemic brought the “most severe crisis for the world since The Great Depression of the 1930s”.

“Its impact is far greater than that of the global financial crisis of 2009,” he added.

ILO said that the restrictions on businesses and public life destroyed 8.8% of all work hours around the world last year, which quadrupled the impact of the financial crisis a decade ago.

The United Nations Agency also noted that most people who lost work stopped looking for a job, as hiring activities of businesses crumble.

This translates to a loss of $3.7 trillion (Dhs13.6 trillion) in income globally.

The women sector and young professionals are the ones who hit the most, according to Ryder.

Projections from the ILO report indicates that there will be a bounce back in jobs in the second half of the year 2021. However, it depends on the reduction of COVID-19 cases and the rollout of vaccines.