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The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has just released the fourth edition of its World of Work report and it has made some disturbing revelations. The pandemic has had a devastating and disproportionate effect on young workers (under the age of 25 years) with one in every six losing their jobs! Young women are affected more than young men.
“The COVID-19 economic crisis is hitting young people – especially women – harder and faster than any other group. If we do not take significant and immediate action to improve their situation, the legacy of the virus could be with us for decades. If their talent and energy is side-lined by a lack of opportunity or skills it will damage all our futures and make it much more difficult to re-build a better, post-COVID economy,” said ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder.
The report also looks at measures to create a safe environment for returning to work.
“Creating an employment-rich recovery that also promotes equity and sustainability means getting people and enterprises working again as soon as possible, in safe conditions,” said Ryder. “Testing and tracing can be an important part of the policy package if we are to fight fear, reduce risk and get our economies and societies moving again quickly.”
The report titled ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work also says, “94 per cent of the world’s workers are living in countries with some sort of workplace closure measures in place.” It also warns, “The prospects for the second quarter of 2020 remain dire, with the latest ILO estimates revealing a decline in working hours of around 10.7 per cent relative to the last quarter of 2019, which is equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs.”
Elaborating on the subject of young workers the report finds, “A total of 178 million young workers around the world, more than four in ten young people employed globally, were working in hard-hit sectors when the crisis began. Almost 77 per cent (or 328 million) of the world’s young workers were in informal jobs, compared with around 60 per cent of adult workers (aged 25 and above). The youth informality rate ranges from 32.9 per cent in Europe and Central Asia to 93.4 per cent in Africa.”
When it comes to women workers, the report says, “While young women account for less than 39 per cent of global youth employment, they make up almost 51 per cent of youth employment in accommodation and food services, 41.7 per cent in wholesale and retail trade, and 43.8 per cent in real estate and other services activities. Owing to widespread school closures and the lack of affordable childcare services, the double burden of paid and unpaid work is intensifying for young women, especially those with small children.”
The entire report may be read here:
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