Latin American and Caribbean countries are being urged by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to adopt “immediate strategies” in an effort to respond to what it says is likely to be a toll of jobs losses in the region higher than that previously estimated.
Less than two months ago, in August, the United Nations body had put the job loss toll from the COVID-19 backlash at around fourteen million. At the beginning of October, however, it was reported that the pandemic had now wiped out around thirty four million jobs… and counting. There is now mounting concern over the fact that the likely eventual job loss toll in Latin America and the Caribbean resulting from the coronavirus is certain to be a great deal worse than originally projected.
While the ILO has now raised the alarm and called on countries to lend an element of urgency to their response to the problem, the organization’s Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Vinicius Pinheiro is already on record as describing the situation as an unprecedented challenge.
While there have been no precise figures as yet attached to likely overall job losses in the English-speaking Caribbean, it is widely expected that the regional tourism and airline industries are certain to be among the sectors to take the heaviest hit. Assessments of the state of the tourism industry in the high-profile visitor-dependent countries in the region already point to a likely protracted period of decline in visitor arrivals arising out of country laws that apply strict rules for visitors to ensure compliance with COVID-19 regulations.
In countries with historically low visitor arrival levels, like Guyana, the present indications are that job losses are likely to hit persons employed in mostly at middle and low levels in the private sector and in the agricultural and agro-processing sectors where the current restraints affecting production and marketing are likely to claim jobs.
In the agricultural sector, for example, while Guyana continues to produce sufficient food for local consumption as well as limited export (though it is important to remind that the country does not meet the criteria for being termed a food-secure country) many farmers have reported sharp reductions in earnings on account of COVID-19 concerns that have kept them away from their farms as well as logistical challenges associated with moving their produce from farm to market resulting from transportation challenges linked to the local protocols associated with efforts to restrict the spread of the virus.
In the mostly micro- and small-enterprise agro-processing sector which this newspaper has been monitoring closely, significant numbers of manufacturers have either considerably reduced or shelved their production processes altogether, having been unable, for one reason or another, to sustain their businesses. Market crises resulting from significant purchase cutbacks by consumers coupled with limited savings or borrowing support to keep businesses going have resulted in either dramatic production cuts or complete operating closures. These developments have resulted in loss of jobs for farm hands and persons employed in production support capacities in the agro-processing sector. All of the local agro-processing enterprises spoken to by the Stabreok Business up to this time have reported having to reduce the numbers of their employees or to simply send their helpers home, at least in the immediate term.
The ILO lists Latin America and the Caribbean as the worst-hit region in the world in terms of lost working hours, with a drop of 20.9 per cent in the first three quarters of the year, compared to an average of 11.7 per cent worldwide.