The coronavirus pandemic took a "massive" toll on the global labor market last year, the United Nations said Monday, with the equivalent of more than a quarter of a billion jobs lost.
In a fresh study, the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) found that a full 8.8 percent of global working hours were lost in 2020, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
That is equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs, which is "approximately four times greater than the number lost during the 2009 global financial crisis," the ILO said in a statement.
Meanwhile, anti-poverty group Oxfam said Monday said the Covid-19 crisis is aggravating inequality, with the richest quickly getting richer while it will likely take years for the world's poorest to recover.
In a report entitled "The inequality virus", the group warned that the pandemic is the first time since records began that inequality is rising in virtually every country at the same time.
"The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their Covid-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover," said the Oxfam report.
Oxfam also highlighted the fact that the impact of the virus is also being felt unevenly, with ethnic minorities in certain countries dying at higher rates and women being overrepresented in the sectors of the economy that are hardest hit by the pandemic.
The report is timed to coincide with the start of the World Economic Forum's virtual Davos event: an entire week of global programming will be dedicated to helping leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year.
