A new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows that 255 million people lost their jobs during the pandemic in 2020, with ILO chief Guy Ryder warning that the crisis, which hits younger workers predominantly, threatens to produce a “lost generation.“
The 255 million lost jobs represent 8.8 percent of the global workforce, and the lost work volume is 4.4 percent of global GDP, or 3.7 trillion dollars. As the ILO notes, the contraction is four times that which is reported for the financial crisis of 2009. For the current year, the ILO forecasts a loss of at least 130 million jobs — but the potential negative effects of the fourth and fifth wave of pandemic are not yet factored into this expectation. Nor are those job losses reported that are not officially registered by member states with the ILO, i.e., seasonal and shadow workers, etc. One may well add the same number to the ILO figure, for them.
