The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc among lower-skilled and young workers who were victims of “record numbers” of job losses in 2020, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Brief. And according to the Fund, even as economies readjust to a post-pandemic world, some of those jobs would have disappeared forever.
“Longer-term changes appear likely in terms of the mix of jobs in the economy – some sectors and occupations will permanently shrink, and others will expand,” the Brief says. It adds, “With many unemployed workers still struggling to regain their pre-pandemic salaries and other fundamental shifts underway, incomes across workers are likely to diverge further.”The report was prepared by IMF staffers, Marina Tavares and Jorge Mondragon.
The Fund says that its response to the Covid-19 crisis, up until now, has seen the disbursement of more than US$110 billion in financial assistance to eighty-six countries while, overall, the Fund is currently allocating about US$250 billion, a quarter, of its US$1 trillion lending capacity available to member countries.
