The International Labor Organization (ILO) just published a report announcing that the world has lost 255 million jobs in 2020 due to COVID-19. The losses resulted in an 8.3% decline in global income, before factoring in support measures, equivalent to $3.7 trillion or 4.4 % of global GDP.
In its seventh report devoted to the effects of the epidemic on the business world, the ILO said that 2020 witnessed a loss of 8.8% of working hours in the world, compared with Q4 2019. Furthermore, the world has lost four times more working hours compared to the period of the financial crisis in 2009.
About half of the lost working hours were calculated from the reduced working hours for those who remained at work. This led to a sharp decline in global employment income by 8.3%, and job losses for women amounted to 5% compared to 3.9% for men.
“This has been the most severe crisis for the world of work since The Great Depression of the 1930s. Its impact is far greater than that of the global financial crisis of 2009.”
Guy Ryder, Director-General, ILO
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