NEARLY half of the global workforce, or 1.6 billion workers, face the bleak prospect of having no food on the table for their families today.
These are workers in the informal economy who are in “immediate danger” of losing their livelihoods, the International Labor Organization (ILO) warned yesterday.
Every day they are without means they will be unable to eat, said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.
Worldwide, the first month of crisis is estimated to result in a decline in the earnings of informal workers by 60 percent.
The drop in working hours in the current second quarter of 2020 is expected to be significantly worse than previously estimated, according to the ILO Monitor report on COVID-19 and the world of work.
There could be a second wave of the virus without adequate safeguards for returning workers as lockdowns are eased, warns the report. It reveals the devastating effect on workers in the informal economy and on hundreds of millions of enterprises worldwide.
The proportion of workers living in countries with recommended or required workplace closures has decreased from 81 to 68 percent over the last two weeks, mainly driven by the lifting of workplace closures in China.
However, the situation has worsened elsewhere. As of April 22, 81 percent of employers and 66 percent of the self-employed live and work in countries affected by recommended or required workplace closures, with severe impacts on incomes and jobs.
This means close to 1.1 billion informal economy workers live and work in countries in full lockdown, and an additional 304 million in countries in partial lockdown. These workers together represent 67 percent of informal employment.
According to the ILO nowcasting model, global working hours declined in the first quarter of 2020 by an estimated 4.5 percent — equivalent to approximately 130 million full-time jobs, assuming a 48-hour working week, compared to the pre-crisis situation in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Global working hours in the second quarter are expected to be 10.5 percent lower than in the last pre-crisis quarter. This is equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs, which represent a significant deterioration on ILO’s previous estimate of 195 million for the second quarter.
“Taking together employers and self-employed workers, around 436 million enterprises in the hardest-hit sectors worldwide are currently facing high risks of serious disruption,” the ILO report observes.
More than half of these — some 232 million — are in wholesale and retail trade, currently one of the most impacted sectors globally. Self-employed workers represent 45 percent of employment in this segment.
The self-employed and small enterprises together account for more than 70 percent of global employment in retail trade and nearly 60 percent in the accommodation and food services sector, a reflection of the severe vulnerability of these sectors in the present economic crisis.
More than 2 billion people worldwide work in the informal economy in jobs that are characterized by a lack of basic protection, including social protection coverage. They often have poor access to health care services and have no income replacement in case of sickness or lockdown.
Many of them have no possibility to work remotely from home. Staying home means losing their jobs, and without wages, they cannot eat.
“Immediate support is needed for enterprises and workers around the world on an unprecedented scale,” the ILO said.
