Editorial

About 400 million workers in India, working in the informal economy, are at risk of falling deeper into poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting 2.7 billion workers globally due to lockdowns.

COVID-19 is already affecting tens of millions of informal workers. In India, Nigeria and Brazil, the number of workers in the informal economy affected by the lockdown and other containment measures is substantial.

In India, nearly 90 per cent of the people work in the informal economy and about 400 million of these are at risk. Particularly in low- and middle-income countries, hard-hit sectors have a high proportion of workers in informal employment and workers with limited access to health services and social protection. Without appropriate policy measures, workers face a high risk of falling into poverty and will experience greater challenges in regaining their livelihoods during the recovery period.

Employment contraction has already begun on a large (often unprecedented) scale in many countries. In the absence of other data, changes in working hours, which reflect both layoffs and other temporary reductions in working time, give a better picture about the dire reality of the current labour market situation.

Using this approach, as of 1 April 2020, the ILO's new global estimates indicate that working hours will decline by 6.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, which is equivalent to 195 million full-time workers.

IATA says 25 mn jobs in aviation, related sectors at risk. International Air Transport Association on Tuesday predicted that some 25 million jobs globally are at risk with airline shutdown due to Covid-19 crisis. Accordingly, a new analysis by IATA shows that some 25 million jobs are at risk of disappearing with plummeting demand for air travel amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Out of the 25 million jobs at risk, 11.2 million are in Asia-Pacific, 5.6 million in Europe, 2.9 million in Latin America, 2 million in North America, 2 million in Africa and 0.9 million in the Middle East. In the same scenario, airlines are expected to see full year passenger revenues fall by $252 billion (-44 per cent) in 2020 compared to 2019. The second quarter is the most critical with demand falling 70 per cent at its worst point, and airlines burning through $61 billion in cash.