September 24, 2020

Anna Murray 

September 23, the International Labour Organization (ILO) issued its observation on the first three-quarters of 2020’s global labor market, “ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work. Sixth edition”, which concluded the global working hour losses in the first 9 months of 2020 have been considerably larger than previously estimated in the edition of the Monitor issued on June 30.

The ILO Monitor found that by the mid-year point, global working hours had declined by 17.3% compared to December of 2019, which is equivalent to a loss of 500 million full-time jobs. Thus, the global labor income had shrunk by 10.7% during the first 9 months of 2020 in comparison to the same period of 2019. That amounts to a sharp drop of US$3.5 trillion or 5.5% in the overall global gross domestic product (GDP).

The ILO attributed the devastating losses in global working hours to the catastrophic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought a massive drop in labor income for workers worldwide. The biggest drop was in lower-middle-income countries, where the labor income losses reached 15.1%, with the Americas the hardest hit region at 12.1%.

While the UN General Assembly is gathering in New York City, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder suggests as we need to redouble our efforts to beat the virus, so we need to act urgently and at scale to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic to economic, social, and employment impacts. In addition, Ryder urges the urgent need for sustaining job support, businesses, and incomes from the international community which sets out a global strategy for recovery through dialogue, cooperation, and solidarity.

Photo:Webshot.