1.6 billion people worldwide may lose their jobs, ILO warns

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned on Wednesday that approximately half of the entire global workers are in the immediate danger of losing their jobs in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic.

Issuing its third report on the coronavirus crisis, the ILO said that some 1.6 billion people were at risk of losing their jobs in the second quarter of 2020, adding that the risk fell on those workers in the informal economy, and three-quarters of them.

ILO said an expected further sharp decline in working hours, due to the coronavirus crisis, meant that these workers were in “immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed”.

The UN agency also warned of the influence on the most vulnerable in the labour market, who are often in the hardest-hit sectors.