Global Snapshot: COVID-19 Numbers and Jobless Claims

A tiny virus has brought the world economy on its knees, bringing in job losses, and surges in the salary cuts. It is now obvious that growth across the globe will swing towards negative side in 2020. The managing director of IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, stated that in reality, it is projected that this would be the worst economic consequence since the Great Depression of 1930.

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Provided every necessary containment procedure for reducing the spread of the coronavirus, the economy of the globe is taking a significant hit. This is especially the case for retail industry, hospitality, tourism and transport. In many nations, the majority of people are either self-employed or are working with the minor and medium-sized businesses. Amid this chaos, these businesses and workers are particularly exposed.

No industry had been left untouched from the impact of coronavirus crisis; however, the industries, which are hardest hit by unemployment are social assistance, travel, hospitality retail trade, hotel and food services and construction industry.

Globally, there have been 3,145,407 confirmed cases of COVID-19, as of 12:00pm CEST, 1 May 2020, including 221,823 deaths, as per WHO.

The economic information that the global economy is plunging into its most horrible retrenchment in decades, giving a shock to the markets. The WESO (World Employment and Social Outlook) trends 2020 report disclosed that the global unemployment had been roughly stable for the last 9-years but slowing economic growth across the globe signifies that as the labour force across the globe increases, not sufficient new jobs are being created to absorb the new applicants to the labour market.

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US Jobless Claims Outpouring

With the cases of COVID-19 rising globally, the rate of unemployment is also increasing its pace. The coronavirus remains to impact the number of early claims, as well as insured joblessness. In America, about 30 million people filed for unemployment allowances in the past 6-weeks, as the nation sloughed a 10-year period’s worth of jobs in days and at the same time the country confronted a sequence of milestones highlighting about the unprecedented toll the COVID-19 is taking on the economy of the United States.

US Jobless claims rose by nearly 3.8 million last week as per the Labour Department. This equates to anticipations that preliminary claims would increase by 3.5 million. The jobless claims for the week ended April 25 appeared in at the lowest level since March 21 but brought the rolling 6-week total to 30.3 million as part of the most terrible employment crunch in the history of the US.

What the US Department of Labor Announces

On 30 April 2020, the US Department of Labor announced the availability of up to USD 312 million in funding aimed at creating job training as well as employment search services for older Americans.

Addition to this, the US Department of Labor, in partnership with the ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission) and the DRA (Delta Regional Authority), revealed the availability of approximately USD 29.2 million in a 2^nd round of funding for the initiative taken in Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities.

The SCEP or Senior Community Service Employment Program has an authority by the Older Americans Act of 1965. SCSEP is a community service and work-centered job-training program for small-income, jobless seniors administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The grants of this program are awarded in a competitive procedure via a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

Under this FOA, the department’s ETA will award these grants to applicants that demonstrate innovative and sustainable plans to provide desirable career, training as well as support facilities to eligible persons to assist in meeting workforce challenges and industry requirements currently underserved by other resources in the Delta and Appalachian regions.

Policy Framework by International Labour Standards (ILO)

As the market has been extremely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the threat to health, the economic as well as community interruption endangers the long-term wellbeing and livelihoods of millions of people.

International Labour Standards and its constituents, including the government bodies and employers will have a significant part during tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and to make sure the well-being of people with the sustainability of both their employments and businesses.

The latest information from International Labour Organization (ILO) on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the labour market unveils the destructive impact on employees in the informal economy and on hundreds of millions of enterprises all over the world.

The international labour standards mentioned that immediate assistance is necessary for enterprises and employees worldwide on an extraordinary scale across all pillars of the ILO’s policy framework.

Moreover, the support to jobs and businesses required to target the most susceptible in order to alleviate the economic and social consequences of the confinement period.

The International Labour Standards revealed four key pillars to fight COVID-19:

ILO highlighted that the job-rich recovery would put the foundation for inclusive as well as sustainable growth. As the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is expected to be uneven, adding significantly to existing liabilities and inequalities.

In the phase of recovery, superior attention should be paid to the establishment of employment policies to support companies and employees; along with strong labour market institutions, and comprehensive and well-resourced social protection systems, comprising care policies and infrastructure that kick in automatically and in an inclusive way as crises take place.

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