Coronavirus has become a plague of the poor across the world

The biggest victims of the coronavirus in all countries around the world are low-income and marginalized groups such as workers, minorities, and women. Economic restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic have so far destroyed 300 million job opportunities.

COVID-19, the disease resulting from coronavirus infection, is gradually becoming a plague whose greatest victims are low-income and marginalized segments of society.

The fate of a Romanian seasonal agricultural worker who came to Germany in April to work but contracted coronavirus due to lack of hygiene facilities at his residence and subsequently died differs little from hundreds of millions of Indian, Chinese, Afghan, or other workers around the world.

These workers are now not only struggling with livelihood problems, but have also carried the coronavirus to the most deprived parts of the world.

For example, in China, migrant workers who returned to Wuhan for Chinese New Year in February spread the coronavirus to the remotest parts of China. This country has 280 million migrant workers, many of whom were laid off due to the closure of restaurants and construction sites.

Many of these workers do not have health insurance and are not eligible for government assistance. Those who find work again these days are forced to accept much lower wages.

In India too, travel restrictions, which have been extended until Sunday, June 1st (May 31st), have displaced millions of migrant workers and deprived them of income opportunities. It is estimated that around 20 million people in the country have returned to their cities and villages since the restrictions began. Many of them died of hunger and exhaustion on the journey they undertook on foot. Those who reached their destinations have likely brought the coronavirus with them to deprived areas.

Afghanistan has also witnessed the spread of coronavirus, particularly in areas bordering Iran, since thousands of its migrant workers returned from Iran.

The same pattern exists in wealthy countries

The lack of hospital services and health care is not only affecting marginalized groups in China, India, and Afghanistan, but also in wealthy countries around the world. In Britain and the United States, death rates from COVID-19 are significantly higher among minorities than among white people. People of color in these countries often have a history of other illnesses in their medical records and most of them work in low-income and difficult jobs.

The International Labour Organization estimates that the economic restrictions imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus have so far eliminated 300 million job opportunities worldwide. These job opportunities belonged to groups that often lacked significant expertise. Apart from seasonal workers, young people, and especially women, have suffered more from these restrictions than other groups.

The International Labour Organization says that approximately 11 percent of total working hours worldwide were lost in the second quarter of 2020, and unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds has increased. Unemployment rates in this age group were already higher than average before the coronavirus pandemic.

Many employed people in this group with meager incomes worked in informal jobs, without contracts and social security insurance in local markets. In this group, young women who worked in tourism, hotels, and restaurants were the hardest hit.

Guy Ryder, director of the International Labour Organization, told Deutsche Welle that after controlling the coronavirus pandemic, serious measures should be taken to bring these young people back into the job market. He mentions among these measures vocational training programs with job guarantees that can prevent an entire generation from being lost in the job market.

Many migrant and seasonal workers are also young people of this generation in countries that lack the capacity for government support. The poorer a country is, the larger its informal labor market—jobs without insurance and social services—becomes.

Ryder says: “Six out of every ten people in the world work in this informal market and make their living.” The biggest victims of coronavirus across the world are these very people.

Source: DW