International Labour Organisation, ILO, has said the COVID-19 lockdown and containment measures across the globe will increase poverty levels among the world’s informal economy workers by 56 percent in low-income countries. In a report released on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland, ILO noted that “in high-income countries, relative poverty levels among informal workers is estimated to increase by 52 percentage points, while in upper-middle-income countries the increase is estimated to be 21 percentage points
.“As many as 1.6 billion of the world’s two billion informal economy workers are affected by lockdown and containment measures. Most are working in the hardest-hit sectors or in small units more vulnerable to shocks. “These include workers in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the more than 500 million farmers producing for the urban market. “Women are particularly affected in high-risk sectors, the report says. In addition, with these workers needing to work to feed their families, COVID-19 containment measures in many countries cannot be implemented successfully. “This is endangering governments’ efforts to protect the population and fight the pandemic. It may become a source of social tension in countries with large informal economies. “More than 75 percent of total informal employment takes place in businesses of fewer than 10 workers, including 45 percent of independent workers without employees. “With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus. “This has been exacerbated by disruptions in food supplies, which has particularly affected those in the informal economy.”

i was even xpectin 80 percent coz d rich are getting richer while d poor are getting poorer