Around 1.6 billion informal workers, belonging to almost half of the global labour force, are in immediate danger of losing their livelihoods due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.
As per ILO, the total working hours in the second quarter are likely to be 10.5 percent lower, equal to 305 million full-time jobs, than the last pre-crisis quarter, the ILO said, with the biggest declines projectiont for the Americas, Europe and Central Asia.
ILO had estimated on April 7 that the disruptions would be wipping out labour equivalent to the effort of 195 million workers, or 6.7% of hours clocked worldwide.
About 436 million enterprises – businesses or self-employed – face “high risks” of disruption, the agency added.
The ILO said that wages of the world’s two billion informal workers dropped by an estimated global average of 60% in the first month that the crisis occured in each region, the ILO said.
The agency also stressed that informal workers are the most vulnerable of the 3.3 billion global workforce, lacking welfare protection, access to good healthcare, or the means to work from home.
“For millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future. Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing,” said Guy Ryder, director general of ILO. “They have no savings or access to credit. These are the real faces of the world of work. If we don’t help them now, they will simply perish,” he added.
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