Latin America: 14 Million People Lost Their Jobs to COVID-19

Fourteen million full-time workers lost their jobs in Latin America because of the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, the International Labour Organization (ILO) revealed in a report.

RELATED: 

Ecuador Indigenous Ask IACHR to Investigate State Over COVID-19 Crisis

In the last month, when COVID-19 began to expand rapidly in the region, there has been a huge drop in the number of jobs. The virus has had a catastrophic effect on the working class, the ILO announced.

The organization's new report, released Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, also estimates incalculable losses in income in sectors such as hotel and restaurant services, manufacturing, retail, and business and administrative activities.

For ILO Regional Director Vinícius Pinheiro, this reality "poses a challenge of unprecedented magnitude in the labor markets of Latin America and the Caribbean."

"We will only reverse this situation by facing the health emergency and rebuilding, at the same time, our labor markets," Pinheiro said.

This will require "more ambitious measures to preserve jobs, encourage businesses and protect incomes," he added.

The new ILO report also warned that COVID-19 will lead to 195 million full-time jobs disappearing globally between April and June this year alone.

Four out of every five workers worldwide are already suffering the consequences of the partial total confinement of entire cities that many governments have been forced to impose, according to the United Nations.

Analysts say the planet is experiencing the most severe crisis since World War II, which ended in 1945.