“In the wholesale and retail business, which is the hardest hit, the expectation is that 232 million enterprises are at risk of severe disruption,” said Guy Ryder, ILO director-general.
Other sectors of the economy that are hardest hit, he said in a virtual news briefing, include the manufacturing sector (111 million enterprises), accommodation and food services (51 million) and real estate and administrative business services (42 million).
“Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing,” Ryder said.
According to the ILO’s latest study on COVID-19 and the world of work, compared to pre-crisis levels, global working hours in the second quarter “are expected to be 10.5 percent lower.…This is equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs, which is a significant deterioration on the previous estimate of 195 million for the second quarter.
“This has been driven mainly by the prolongation and extension of containment measures,” the report said.
ILO labor economists estimate that the proportion of workers living in countries with workplace closures has “decreased from 81 to 68 percent over
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