Investment in transforming the transport sector could create millions of new jobs and help countries move to greener, healthier economies, says report from the International Labour Organization and the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

The study finds that 10 million additional jobs could be created worldwide - 2.9 million in the UNECE region - if 50 per cent of all vehicles manufactured were electric. In addition, almost 5 million new jobs could be created worldwide - 2.5 million in the UNECE region - if UNECE countries doubled investment in public transport.

I have many friends who run their own small businesses, in Europe, Australia, and Asia. They include dental clinics, restaurants, small travel agencies, and manufacturing businesses. All have been forced to close.

Small businesses are incredibly important, both socially and economically. In 2019 the ILO published a report, Small Matters which showed that small economic units with up to 49 employees account for approximately 70 per cent of global employment. Their contribution to GDP is significant. So small really does matter.

The COVID-19 crisis has put extraordinary pressure on employers and private sector businesses, to survive and continue to provide decent work. Deborah France Massin, Director of the ILO’s Bureau for Employers’ Activities, explains how they have been helping with services and tools, and ensuring that the views of enterprise are represented to decision-makers.

El Gobierno definió seis áreas en las que concentrará los esfuerzos para la reactivación, basado en las proyecciones de crecimiento del PIB mundial de -3% en 2020 y de 5,8% en 2021, y en las proyecciones de crecimiento de Costa Rica de un -3,6% en 2020 y un 2,3% en 2021, así como en la proyección de las principales afectaciones al sector comercial.

La pandemia del COVID-19 tiene fuertes efectos en el ámbito de la salud y profundas implicaciones sobre el crecimiento económico y el desarrollo social. Llega a América Latina y el Caribe en un contexto de bajo crecimiento —como fue analizado en anteriores informes especiales sobre la materia (CEPAL, 2020a y 2020b)— y, sobre todo, de alta desigualdad y vulnerabilidad, en el que se observan tendencias crecientes en la pobreza y pobreza extrema, un debilitamiento de la cohesión social y manifestaciones de descontento popular.

With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus, the briefing says. This has been exacerbated by disruptions in food supplies, which has particularly affected those in the informal economy.

The coronavirus crisis has hurried the arrival of the “future of work”. Lockdown has seen widescale remote working, increasing automation, a global revaluation of the care economy and a more visible lack of social protection within the gig economy.

There is an opportunity to “build back better” in 5 areas: reskilling and upskilling; supporting the jobs of tomorrow; prioritizing redeployment and re-employment; re-evaluating essential work and improving the quality of jobs; and resetting education, skills and jobs systems for the post-pandemic recovery.

This article by the International Crisis Group says that deadly and disruptive as it already is, and terribly as it could yet worsen and spread, the 2020 coronavirus outbreak could also have political effects that last long after the contagion is contained. Crisis Group identifies seven points of particular concern.

Este artículo de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT) señala que, con independencia de la edad, el nivel de ingresos o el país, la emergencia en torno al COVID-19 está afectando a casi todos los habitantes del planeta. Sin embargo, es probable que la crisis económica golpee con especial dureza a los jóvenes. El artículo expone cinco factores determinantes.