ILO / COVID-19 EMPLOYMENT LOSSES

The COVID-19 crisis is expected to wipe out 6.7 percent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020 - equivalent to 195 million full-time workers, according to a new report issued by the International Labour Organization. ILO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:25
• Production Date: 7 April 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: GUY RYDER
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION - ILO
• Subject Topical: DISEASE CONTROL; EMPLOYMENT
• MAMS Id: 2542717
• Parent Id: 2542717
• Alternate Title: unifeed200407f

Description

STORY: ILO / COVID-19 EMPLOYMENT LOSSES
TRT: 2:25
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 7 APRIL 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

1.SOUNDBITE (English) Guy Ryder, Director-General, ILO: Guy Ryder, Director-General, ILO:
“Since the ILO issued its first estimates on the job impact of the pandemic that was on the 18th of March, a lot's happened. The COVID-19 virus is spread around the world. More and more countries are locking down their countries either partially or totally, to such an extent that now four out of every five workers in the world lives in a country where some type of lockdown is in place. So, what is the job impact? We've had a look at the figures. It's a complicated job because there are so many varied situations around the world: technical unemployment, full unemployment, reduced working time. So, we've looked at reduced hours being worked, and we've tried to convert those into the full time jobs lost. And the headline figure unfortunately is dramatic. It shows it in the coming three months, the second trimester of the year, we expect 195 million jobs to go around the world, job equivalents. They're spread out around the regions. In percentage terms the Arab world and Europe are the most affected. In sectoral terms, there are four sectors that we particularly highlight as being vulnerable: retail and wholesale accommodation, and food business services, and administration, and manufacturing. And that's where we are right now. Now these are the short term, the immediate impacts of a crisis which is hitting people with tremendous force and very, very quickly. It is an open question at this point how these employment figures will play out in the longer term. It’s impossible really to know where we might be at the end of this year and we don't try to forecast a figure of where we might be at the end of this year. It depends fundamentally on two things: how successful the international community is in limiting this pandemic and defeating it, and secondly the types of economic and social policies that we put in place to get the economy, to keep it in life now, and to get it up and running again quickly once the pandemic recedes, because things are changing so quickly. We'll be publishing another report on these figures probably in about two more weeks. And I think we have to be sure that we keep up to speed in this extremely fast-moving situation.”

Storyline

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a catastrophic effect on working hours and earnings, globally. A new ILO report highlights some of the worst affected sectors and regions, and outlines policies to mitigate the crisis.

The COVID-19 crisis is expected to wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020 - equivalent to 195 million full-time workers.

Large reductions are foreseen in the Arab States, (8.1 per cent, equivalent to 5 million full-time workers), Europe, (7.8 per cent, or 12 million full-time workers) and Asia and the Pacific (7.2 per cent, 125 million full-time workers).

Huge losses are expected across different income groups, but especially in upper-middle income countries (7.0 per cent, 100 million full-time workers). This far exceeds the effects of the 2008-9 financial crisis.

The sectors most at risk include accommodation and food services, manufacturing, retail, and business and administrative activities.