COVID-19 wipes out 400 million jobs worldwide

The United States is currently the area hardest-hit by the pandemic, where over 18 per cent of working hours during the second quarter were lost, equivalent to 70 million full-time jobs.

The ILO painted three possible scenarios for the second half of the year. The most pessimistic scenarios assumes a second wave of the pandemic that significantly slows recovery.

Global working hours would still be 11.9 per cent (the equivalent of 390 million jobs) lower at the year-end than at the end of 2019.

The most optimistic scenario, which assumes a rapid recovery, would still see a 1.2-per cent year-on-year loss of global working hours equivalent to 34 million jobs.