Pandemic could make another 25m jobless: UN

The COVID-19 pandemic will significantly increase global unemployment, leaving up to 25 million more people out of work, and will dramatically slash workers' incomes, the United Nations said Wednesday.

In a fresh study, the International Labour Organization warned that the economic and labour crisis sparked by the spread of the new coronavirus, which has now killed more than 8,000 people worldwide, will have "far-reaching impacts on labour market outcomes".

"This is no longer only a global health crisis, it is also a major labour market and economic crisis that is having a huge impact on people," ILO chief Guy Ryder said in a statement.

The UN agency's study suggested the world should prepare to see a "significant rise in unemployment and underemployment in the wake of the virus."

Presenting different scenarios depending on how quickly and with what level of coordination governments react, it found that even in the best-case scenario, 5.3 million more people will be pushed into unemployment by the crisis.

At the high-end meanwhile, 24.7 million more people will become jobless, on top of the 188 million registered as unemployed in 2019, the study found.

"By comparison, the 2008-9 global financial crisis increased global unemployment by 22 million," the ILO said.