Thursday, April 9, 2020
'Catastrophic': UN Labor Agency Warns Coronavirus Crisis Could Wipe Out 195 Million Full-Time Jobs Worldwide
The new study estimates 1.25 billion workers in the hardest-hit sectors "are facing a drastic and devastating reduction in working hours, wage cuts, and layoffs."
by
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/08/catastrophic-un-labor-agency-warns-coronavirus-crisis-could-wipe-out-195-million
As governments across the globe continue to grapple with how to best provide economic relief to workers and businesses impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a new report from the United Nations labor agency warns that the public health crisis could cause working hours worldwide to decline by 6.7% in the second quarter of this year—the equivalent of 195 million full-time jobs.
While health officials have concluded that full or partial lockdowns are needed around the world to limit cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the International Labor Organization (ILO) report (pdf) released Tuesday says such measures are having a "catastrophic" effect on the global economy and already affecting almost 2.7 billion workers, around 81% of the world's workforce of 3.3 billion.
Sangheon Lee, director of ILO's employment policy department and the report's main author, told the Guardian that the outbreak's impact on jobs was immediate.
"We started to see huge numbers in job loss claims, in the U.S., Canada, and most of the European countries," he said. "We expect that unless we have serious and immediate actions taken right now the recovery is going to be rather long and painful."
"This is the greatest test for international cooperation in more than 75 years," ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said in a statement. "If one country fails, then we all fail. We must find solutions that help all segments of our global society, particularly those that are most vulnerable or least able to help themselves."
According to the ILO report:
The majority of job losses and declining working hours will occur in hardest-hit sectors. The ILO estimates that 1.25 billion workers, representing almost 38% of the global workforce, are employed in sectors that are now facing a severe decline in output and a high risk of workforce displacement. Key sectors include retail trade, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing.
The agency says that "depending on the country context, these workers are facing a drastic and devastating reduction in working hours, wage cuts, and layoffs." This is especially the case for the 482 million workers around the world in wholesale and retail trade, "who are typically low paid and unprotected."
"Particularly in low- and middle-income countries, hard-hit sectors have a high proportion of workers in informal employment and workers with limited access to health services and social protection," the report explains. "Without appropriate policy measures, workers face a high risk of falling into poverty and will experience greater challenges in regaining their livelihoods during the recovery period."
Sectors facing a medium-high impact from the pandemic, according to ILO, include transport, storage, and the communication industry—from airline pilots to delivery workers—as well as arts, entertainment and recreation, and other services.
In addition to the ILO's dire projections about how the virus outbreak could impact workers and the world's economy, the report includes policy recommendations to ease the effects of the crisis, emphasizing the necessity of "immediate support for most-affected sectors and population groups, particularly for enterprises and workers operating in the informal economy."ILO ranks agriculture, forestry, and fishing as facing a low-medium affect from the crisis. However, the report adds that "although the economic impact has not yet been felt in agriculture, the largest sector in most of developing countries, risks of food insecurity are emerging due to containment measures, including border closures."
Specific measures the agency highlights include cash transfers to those most affected by the lockdowns and shifting to the production of crucial supplies such as personal protective equipment to provide continued employment, both of which should accompany continuous efforts to ensure everyone has access to essentials like food.
Governments' and global organizations' formal responses to the pandemic, the ILO says, should be guided by four pillars:
"Workers and businesses are facing catastrophe, in both developed and developing economies," ILO's Ryder warned. "We have to move fast, decisively, and together. The right, urgent, measures, could make the difference between survival and collapse."
"The choices we make today will directly affect the way this crisis unfolds and so the lives of billions of people," he added. "With the right measures we can limit its impact and the scars it leaves. We must aim to build back better so that our new systems are safer, fairer, and more sustainable than those that allowed this crisis to happen."
As Coronavirus Pandemic Ravages Earth, Trump Announces Push to Mine the Moon
An executive order quietly signed Monday makes clear the president. does not feel bound by international treaties on space exploration and resource extraction.
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/08/coronavirus-pandemic-ravages-earth-trump-announces-push-mine-moon
As the U.S. and the world continue to struggle to contain the mortality and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the planet, President Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order encouraging American companies to look to the skies for resource extraction opportunities on the Moon and beyond—generating bemusement and anger from critics.
"There is literally nothing valuable enough on the moon that would justify the expense of mining and transporting it," tweeted writer and game developer Rani Baker. "This is a plan a literal child would come up with."
Trump's "Executive Order on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources" explicitly rejects the notion that space is a "global commons" for humanity. While 18 of the world's nations have affirmed the 1979 U.N. Moon Agreement—which encourages countries to treat the celestial body as neutral ground—the new order notes that the U.S. does not feel bound by the treaty and instead encourages private companies to pursue extractive opportunities in outer space.
"Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law," the order states. "Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global commons."
The economic benefit of resource extraction from the moon is at best limited to lunar exploration as the costs of transporting materials back to Earth is not worth it, as Gizmodo's Tom McKay explained:
Note that it is unclear whether the Moon does, in fact, have resources worth the cost of extracting in the foreseeable future. Per Space.com, it is believed to have large quantities of helium-3 of possible use in fusion reactors, though it is finite and the total amount is unclear. It also has water, which would be worthless to bring back to Earth but would be very valuable in setting up long-term human habitation.
[...]
The costs of mining these materials and returning them to Earth is purely speculative; it would be of far greater use enabling lunar industry.
Trump has made outer space a focus of his foreign policy, officially signing an order announcing the formation of the Space Force as a branch of the military in December 2019. As Common Dreams reported, the move drew condemnation from China, which called Trump's order a step forward in the "weaponization of outer space."
The language of Monday's Moon exploration and resource extraction order, which rejects international law and treaty obligations over "use of the Moon, Mars, or other celestial bodies," was decried by the Russian space agency Roscosmos as a pretext for future U.S. attempts at seizure of other planets.
"Attempts to expropriate outer space and aggressive plans to actually seize territories of other planets hardly set the countries [on a path] for fruitful cooperation," Roscosmos deputy head Sergey Saveliev said on Tuesday.
Facing 'Extinction-Level Event,' Small Businesses Urge Congress to Replace Disastrous Loan Program With Direct Payroll Grants
"Without a substantial, immediate response that addresses the magnitude of this problem, our small business sector will be devastated."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/08/facing-extinction-level-event-small-businesses-urge-congress-replace-disastrous-loan
With millions of small businesses on the brink of collapse and struggling to obtain coronavirus relief after the Trump administration's disastrous rollout of a $350 billion rescue fund, progressives are calling on Congress to authorize direct payroll grants to companies in need instead of dumping hundreds of billions more into a deeply flawed program.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—authorized by the massive coronavirus stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last month—had a chaotic launch last Friday amid mass confusion among small businesses and banks tasked with distributing relief loans backed by taxpayer money.
On Twitter, MSA said the loan program "suffers from design flaws—money should be distributed by the Treasury Department, perhaps in partnership with local or state governments, instead of banks."Amanda Ballantyne, executive director of Main Street Alliance (MSA), a progressive coalition that includes 30,000 small-business owners, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that the program's rollout was a "train wreck" that will not be remedied by simply pouring more money into its coffers.
"Small business should be given #GrantsNotLoans," the group tweeted.
MSA is calling on Congress to pass legislation that includes "direct federal subsidies to employers impacted by COVID-19 to cover payroll, health insurance premiums, and rent" as well as "5-10 year no interest loans with streamlined application process to cover other fixed expenses."
"Focusing on direct payroll and healthcare subsidies for small employers is an approach that will mitigate potentially severe impacts for employers and workers," MSA said on its website. "This is an extinction-level event for small businesses in the U.S. Without a substantial, immediate response that addresses the magnitude of this problem, our small business sector will be devastated."
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) echoed MSA's call for direct grants to struggling small businesses instead of loans distributed through big banks.
"Everyone except Trump knows the launch of the small business program—PPP—was a fiasco," Warren said. "Regulations were late, systems crashed, and people couldn't do loan applications. [The Small Business Administration] and Treasury need to fix it."
With PPP rapidly running out of money even as many small businesses say they have not received any funds, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Tuesday asked Congress to authorize an additional $250 billion to replenish the program, which is open to businesses and non-profits with fewer than 500 employees."Congress also needs to dramatically simplify PPP so it actually works," Warren added. "Replace loans with grants to keep people on payroll, ensure that banks provide equal access to all borrowers—and do it NOW."
In a joint statement Tuesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled that they would approve the additional small business funding if the legislation also includes more money for hospitals, state and local governments, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Trump said Tuesday that the SBA has processed more than $70 billion in loans from more than 225,000 business that have applied for relief. But as Bloomberg reported, "that amount hasn't been given to firms yet, but rather is the value of loans SBA has registered and guaranteed for lenders to complete the process and disburse funds."
In a tweet last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused the Trump administration of providing "concierge service" for big businesses seeking bailouts while forcing small business owners to jump through unnecessary hoops.
Since PPP's launch on Friday, social media and news reports have been brimming with anecdotes from small business owners who say they have struggled to navigate the program as they desperately seek assistance to cover payroll costs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"Right now, it's just a waiting game," Adam Rammel, co-owner of the Brewfontaine restaurant in Bellefontaine, Ohio, told the Wall Street Journal.
"We don't know when that money is going to hit," said Rammel.
Warren on Wednesday urged Congress and the Trump administration to listen to the concerns of the small business community and take immediate action.
"If anyone has any doubts about what needs to be done, just ask some small business owners," Warren tweeted. "Millions of them have been put through hell over the past two weeks as they scrambled to try to get access to the money they desperately need."
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