Impact of 'Second Wave' COVID-19: 34 Crore full-time Job Losses Expected! - ILO Report

The International Labour Organisation has released a warning with regards to the loss of jobs if a second wave of coronavirus infections were to hit in 2020.

According to the ILO there would be a global working hour loss of 11.9% which will be equivalent to 340 million full-time job losses. Further the monitoring board has said that the labour market for the rest of the year might or might not recover from the losses incurred earlier this year.

"Even if one assumes better-tailored policy responses - thanks to the lessons learned throughout the first half of the year - there would still be a global working-hour loss of 11.9 per cent at the end of 2020, or 340 million full-time jobs, relative to the fourth quarter of 2019," the report said.

According to the report, the number of working hours which were lost during the first half of 2020 was way worse than what was estimated. Hence, a pessimistic scenario of the second half of this year, is likely to be more challenging.

"This is why we talk of an uncertain but incomplete recovery even in the best of scenarios for the second half of this year. So there is not going to be a simple or quick recovery," ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said.

"The decisions we adopt now will echo in the years to come and beyond 2030. Although countries are at different stages of the pandemic and a lot has been done, we need to redouble our efforts if we want to come out of this crisis in a better shape than when it started," he added.