Illustration by Molly Crabapple
The global economy suffered an unprecedented shock during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the International Labour Organization, the number of work hours lost in 2020 was the equivalent of 255 million jobs, four times greater than losses during the crisis in 2009. Poor workers, especially those not able to work remotely, were hit especially hard. According to the United Nations, world gross product fell by an estimated 4.3 percent in 2020âthe sharpest contraction of output since the Great Depression, and more than double the output drop of 1.7 percent in 2009, during the Great Recession. The International Monetary Fund now estimates that global trade contracted by 9.6 percent in 2020 thanks to the pandemic.