( 4 minutes read)
· According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) Africa is experiencing a sharp rise in unemployment due to covid-19.
· The hardest hit lot is the young people, the organization says in its latest report.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) Africa is experiencing a sharp rise in unemployment due to covid-19. The hardest hit is the young people, the organization says in its latest report. There has been a drop in the number of working hours, which will continue over the next few months according to the latest outlook. The informal sector is the most affected one and the organization is maintaining that it is worrisome, since a large number of people are losing their livelihood.
In sub-Saharan Africa, unemployment rates remained relatively low, though there are occasional bouts of unemployment. Of the 38.1 per
cent estimated total working poor in sub-Saharan Africa, young people account for 23.5 per cent.
In North Africa, unemployment rates are quite high (23.8 per cent estimated in 2012) and projected to remain high over the next five
years. Labor force participation rates for women are the second lowest in the world (33.4 per cent in 2012, right after the Middle East). Informality is less marked than in Sub Saharan Africa, but still persistent.
Analysts with whom www.trendsnafrica.com maintain that the figures collated by ILO are mostly during pre-Covid-19 days. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, things would have drastically changed. Economic activities in several countries in Africa have come to a grinding halt. But one silver lining is that the number of infections in Africa, as of now, is much lower than the rest of the world. This will present the continent an opportunity to kick start the economies much ahead of other countries. They also feel that rganizations like African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Union (AU) should take the lead to creating economic stimulus for the continent., rather than depending on multilateral organizations like the IMF and World Bank all the time.
