Amid Pandemic, the World's Working Poor Hustle to Survive

In this April 13, 2020, photo, brothers Mohammed and Khalil Yousef pose in front of a pickup truck in the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Wehdat in Jordan's capital of Amman. The brothers used to make a living as drivers working day to day, but work has stopped since Jordan ordered a nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Omar Akour)
In this April 13, 2020, photo, brothers Mohammed and Khalil Yousef pose in front of a pickup truck in the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Wehdat in Jordan's capital of Amman. The brothers used to make a living as drivers working day to day, but work has stopped since Jordan ordered a nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Omar Akour)
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Amid Pandemic, the World's Working Poor Hustle to Survive

In this April 13, 2020, photo, brothers Mohammed and Khalil Yousef pose in front of a pickup truck in the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Wehdat in Jordan's capital of Amman. The brothers used to make a living as drivers working day to day, but work has stopped since Jordan ordered a nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Omar Akour)
In this April 13, 2020, photo, brothers Mohammed and Khalil Yousef pose in front of a pickup truck in the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Wehdat in Jordan's capital of Amman. The brothers used to make a living as drivers working day to day, but work has stopped since Jordan ordered a nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Omar Akour)

From India to Argentina, untold millions who were already struggling to get by on the economic margins have had their lives made even harder by pandemic lockdowns, layoffs, and the loss of a chance to earn from a hard day´s work.

The toll for families is hunger and poverty that are either newfound or even more grinding than before. Hunkering down at home to ride out the crisis isn´t an option for many, because securing the next meal means hustling to find a way to sell, clean, drive or otherwise work, despite the risk.

Here are six stories collected by the Associated Press from six corners of the world of people whose lives were upended by the same invisible menace.

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NAIROBI, KENYA

Judith Andeka has seen tough times before, but nothing like this.

The 33-year-old widow and mother of five used to earn $2.50 to $4 a day washing clothes in Nairobi´s Kibera, one of the world´s biggest slums. With people not going to work because of restrictions on movement, neighbors can´t afford her services.

She´s been forced to send her kids to live with relatives who are slightly better off: "I had no choice, because how do you tell a 2-year-old you have no food to give them?"

Each time she goes out looking for food or a chance to earn, she risks being robbed of the few belongings she owns in her shack. Her most prized possessions are a small gas burner and an old black-and-white TV.

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BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Rosemary Páez Carabajal usually pushes a coffee cart on the streets of Argentina´s capital, but the lockdown forced her to stop. Páez Carabajal, her blacksmith husband who´s also out of work and their two children rent a single room in a two-story brick building for the equivalent of $119 a month.

Now the cart sits idle in the hall, and the home is stacked with textbooks as the couple try to home-school their lone school-age child, a 7-year-old son.

The coronavirus came at a time of already painful recession in Argentina, with more than a third of its 44 million residents in poverty, according to figures from late 2019.

"When the quarantine was coming," Páez Carabajal recalled, "I said: `We´re all screwed, us day-to-day vendors.´"

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JAKARTA, INDONESIA

When Budi Santosa lost his job as a cook in a Chinese fast food restaurant, the father of two toddlers became one of nearly 2 million who´ve been put out of work in Indonesia as a result of the pandemic. Restrictions to contain the virus also impacted the 32-year-old's side job where he earned extra cash moonlighting as a driver.

Santos hasn´t had much time to dwell on his misfortune because he has to think about essentials: food, rent and paying down the debt on his motorcycle. He now averages a little over $4 a day making deliveries.

"The government told us to stay at home," he said, "but if I stay home my wife and children will have no food to eat."

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CAIRO

When the government shuttered traditional coffee shops, or "ahwas" as they're famously called in the Middle East, it cost Hany Hassan his job. He had been earning just $5 a day, but at least it was enough to feed his family.

"It´s a very difficult situation ... We are financially ruined," the 40-year-old father of four said.

With no chance of finding another job in Cairo, he returned to his family and hometown in the province of Minya, south of Cairo. But chances of finding work are slim in the villages, too. He goes out daily looking for a job, but he´s come up empty-handed. He´s borrowed money to keep his family afloat.

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AMMAN, JORDAN

Jordan´s wide-reaching lockdown has hit hard in al-Wehdat, a crowded, impoverished refugee camp in the capital. Brothers Mohammed and Khalil Yousef used to scratch out a day-to-day existence as truck drivers hauling construction supplies and produce. Each earned between 10 and 20 dinars, or $14 to $28, a day.

Between them they have nine children, all under 16. In Khalil´s cement shack, the refrigerator is bare save for some tomatoes, onions, and a few bags of pita bread.

After being idled for weeks, they are now only partially getting back to work as some restrictions on drivers are eased.

Mohammed said residents usually help each other out in hard times, but borrowing from neighbors isn´t an option today. "The whole camp is without work now," he said. "Everyone is broke."

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LUCKNOW, INDIA

Mahesh and Gita Verma ran a flower stall outside a Hindu temple honoring the monkey god Hanuman in this northern Indian city. When authorities ordered a lockdown, they found themselves indefinitely sidelined just like others in the informal sector, which makes up 85% of India´s labor force.

The Vermas and their five children, ages 8 through 20, were already living hand to mouth before the coronavirus. Now they´ve restricted themselves to mainly potato-based dishes.

Mahesh borrowed money from friends to convert the flower stall into a milk and bread stand, a business exempt from the lockdown restrictions.

Still, "we cannot have food like we used to have," Gita said.



Musk Calls Trump’s Tax-Cut and Spending Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’ 

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Musk Calls Trump’s Tax-Cut and Spending Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’ 

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)

Billionaire Elon Musk plunged on Tuesday into the congressional debate over President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, calling it a "disgusting abomination" that will increase the federal deficit.

Several fiscally conservative Republicans in the US Senate supported the views Musk expressed in social media posts, which could complicate the bill's path to passage in that chamber.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore," Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination."

He added: "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."

Musk's comments hit a nerve. Republican deficit hawks have expressed concerns about the cost of the bill, which would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump's main legislative accomplishment, while boosting spending on the military and border security.

The House of Representatives passed it by one vote last month, after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the measure would add $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt.

The Senate, also controlled by Trump's Republicans, aims to pass the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in the next month, though senators are expected to revise the House version.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees tax policy, are due to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to discuss making the bill's business-related tax breaks permanent, according to Senator Steve Daines, a panel member. Analysts have warned that such a move would greatly increase the measure's cost.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he disagreed with Musk's assessment about the cost of the bill and stood by the goal of passage by July 4.

"We have a job to do - the American people elected us to do. We have an agenda that everybody campaigned on, most notably the president of the United States, and we're going to deliver on that agenda," the South Dakota lawmaker told reporters.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also dismissed Musk's complaints, telling reporters, "my friend Elon is terribly wrong."

TEST OF INFLUENCE

Musk's loud opposition to a bill that Trump has urged Republicans to pass presents a test of his political influence a week after leaving his formal role in the administration as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end. As DOGE chief, he upended several federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the massive savings he had sought.

The richest person in the world, Musk had spent nearly $300 million to back Trump's presidential campaign and other Republicans in last year's elections. But he has said he would cut his political spending substantially while returning to his role as Tesla CEO.

The White House dismissed Tuesday's attack, just as Trump dismissed earlier Musk complaints about the legislation.

"Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill," spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at a White House briefing. "It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it."

REPUBLICAN DISAGREEMENTS

Senate Republicans were divided about the bill even before Musk's missives. Deficit hawks are pushing for deeper spending cuts than the $1.6 trillion over a decade in the House version, while another coalition of rural-state Republicans are pushing to protect the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income Americans.

One of the hawks, Senator Mike Lee, called on party members to use the Trump bill and future spending measures to reduce the deficit.

"We must commit now to doing so, as this is what voters justifiably expect - and indeed deserve - from the GOP Congress," the Utah Republican said on X while reposting Musk's message.

Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority in the Senate and can afford to lose support from no more than three members, if they expect to pass the legislation with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance by a July 4 deadline.

Another hardliner, Senator Ron Johnson, predicted that lawmakers would not be able to meet the deadline and secure an adequate number of cuts.

Lee and Johnson are among at least four Senate hardliners demanding that the bill be changed to restrict the growth of the debt and deficit.

The faction of party lawmakers determined to limit spending cuts to project Medicaid beneficiaries and business investments in green energy initiatives is of similar size.

"I certainly have an interest in making sure people with disabilities are not harmed. But also, there's the broad issue of how does it affect hospital reimbursements," Senator Jerry Moran told reporters.

"There's a set of my colleagues who are pushing to do more. And so, it turns on how do you get the votes to pass a bill," the Kansas Republican said.

Other Senate Republicans said lawmakers may have to look elsewhere to boost savings, including the possibility of leaving Trump's much touted tax break proposals for tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits for later legislation.

"Those are all Democrat priorities. I'm not sure why we shouldn't be doing that in a potential bipartisan bill to create headspace for this bill," said Republican Senator Thom Tillis.