A life’s work destroyed – Palestinian counts cost of Gaza war
Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza Strip Reuters Mohammed Al Safi said his business making bedding and mattresses in the Gaza Strip provided a decent living and employed 10 people until it was destroyed during an Israeli raid. Today, he depends on aid to survive – if he can find any. Safi, 51, said the fruits of […]
UK food banks “prepare for the worst” as COVID-19 aid comes to an end
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Charity food banks in Britain are “preparing for the worst” as the government starts winding up emergency aid measures put in place to cushion the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on millions of workers and low-income households. An extra weekly payment of £20 to support the country’s poorest families will be cut next […]
Jesuits urge California governor to protect jobs of hospitality workers during COVID-19
RNS In March, after the novel coronavirus started to spread in Southern California, Aimee Cazares was furloughed from her job as a chef at Loews Coronado Bay Resort, where she’s worked for the past five years. Her own health insurance ran out in May, and with her father the only immediate family member working close […]
Coronavirus in India: Pandemic pushes world’s biggest jobs program to brink in rural India
ROLI SRIVASTAVA, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how migrant workers have been among the hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic in India…
Essay: Five ways coronavirus is deepening global inequality
In an article first published on The Conversation, KUNAL SEN, director of the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University, looks at how the coronavirus is widening the gaps between the haves and have-nots…
Jobless youth risk lifelong “scarring” from pandemic – ILO
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Young people who have lost jobs or schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic risk carrying “scarring effects” throughout their working lives unless governments provide immediate support, the International Labour Organization said on Tuesday. An ILO poll of 12,000 youths in 112 countries showed in May that more than one in six people under 24 […]
Pandemic job losses and flooding spark fears of hard times in Bangladesh
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation After losing his job at a garment factory in Dhaka in April as the coronavirus pandemic hit, Mohammad Sumon returned to his village in Jamalpur, about 160 kms away, hoping to support his family working as a part-time mechanic. But severe floods that struck Bangladesh the last week of June, driven […]
COVID-19 pandemic plunges working world into crisis – ILO
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Global leaders called for a comprehensive approach to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which International Labour Organization chief Guy Ryder said on Wednesday had plunged the world of work into “unprecedented crisis”. “Let’s be clear: it’s not a choice between health or jobs and the economy. They are interlinked: we will […]
Solar pumps, migrant homes help shield post-coronavirus world
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation As countries look to revive their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, strengthening climate defences and raising the living standards of vulnerable communities can generate jobs and help guard against future shocks, development experts said. The International Labor Organization has forecast that nearly half the global workforce is at […]
Migrant workers face cruel summer as COVID-19 batters European tourism
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation Argentine bartender Manuela Perez Simon hoped to escape her homeland’s economic troubles when she arrived in Barcelona’s touristy El Born district two years ago looking for work. But like many of the migrant workers who serve cocktails and wait tables in the normally bustling neighbourhood, the coronavirus crisis is depleting her […]