The coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 (CoronavirusDecember 2019) originated in the Wuhan province of China. Reports suggest thatit initially began in October 2019 but, China officially reported it to theW.H.O in December 2019. Since then (as of the date and time this article waswritten), the coronavirus has infected more than 16.7 million people globallyout of which, nearly 660,000 people have lost their lives and 9.7 millionpeople have already recovered. It is not just the people and their familiesinfected with the virus that are presently facing problems but, those that havebeen lucky enough to escape the clutches of this virus have been facing a lotof difficulties.
The people infected with the virus (a disease thatpresently, doesn’t have a cure), have to worry about their health and wellbeing while others have their livelihoods to worry about.
Since the global spread of the virus, countries had imposeda strict “lockdown” forcing companies, industries, and MSME’s to completely shuttheir operations. International borders were closed and airlines were grounded,resulting in a complete halt on the import and export industry/ sectorsimultaneously.
According to reports, more than 400,000 airline workersglobally, have either been fired or are set to lose their jobs due to thepandemic. The aviation industry is probably the worst-hit sector. Airlines wereforced to cut back on flights due to international travel and border restrictions.Even if things start improving globally, we probably won’t see people opting forinternational travel any time soon as most people are worried about eithercontracting the virus or spending lengthy periods in quarantine.
Deutsche, Lufthansa AG, Emirates Airline and Qantas AirwaysLtd. were few of the many airlines that either dismissed their employees orsent them on “indefinite unpaid leaves”. The cabin crew and pilots that werelucky enough to escape the “axe” are being forced to take salary cuts.
Airline giants, British Airways were forced to entirelyretire its fleet of Boeing 747’s. They had initially planned to ground itsfleet of 31 jets by the year 2024 but the pandemic has now forced them to givethe “queen of the skies” an early retirement.
Swiss giants Schindler, who are probably the largestmanufacturers of elevators and escalators recently announced to slash 2,000jobs over the course of two years after their profit fell by more than aquarter due to the pandemic. Schindler's net profit stood at 313 million Swissfrancs a stark difference from 436 million a year ago. It is reported thattheir revenue dropped by 8.7% to 4.96 Billion Francs, while orders fell by12.1% to 5.4 Billion Francs as new installations and modernization projectsdeclined worldwide and are not expected to recover to last year's levels before2022.
Oilfield services company Schlumberger which operates inmore than 120 countries has announced to let go of 21,000 out of its 100,000employees, a whopping quarter of its total workforce. The company will nowreportedly pay more than 1 Billion Dollars in severance benefits. Crude pricesdropped by 33% this year whereas natural gas fell by approximately 17% as aresult of the pandemic.
According to the data released by the Govt. of UK, as many as 649,000 peoplelost their jobs in the UK between March to June 2020 due to the pandemic. In astatement released by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Rishi Sunak-"Difficult times are ahead but the government has a comprehensive jobsplan in place."
According to reports, pandemic driven layoffs have resultedin an increase in a 30% spike in “job seekers” resumes on job portals. Sectorssuch as entertainment, hospitality, aviation, tourism, travel, retail, realestate, manufacturing, and construction have been among the worst-hit sectorsdue to the pandemic driven lockdown. On the other hand, sectors such as pharmaceuticals,healthcare, financial services, and IT haven’t had a very adverse impact duringthe pandemic. Junior and Mid-Level employees have had to face the majority ofthe “lockdown-burn” across sales, recruitment, supply chain, business analysis,and after-sales service.
Recruitment giants, LinkedIn, reported that it would be reportedlyreleasing 960 employees, roughly 6% of its total workforce. LinkedIn is an “employee-oriented”platform for professionals including employers and job seekers.
Australia had reported that the coronavirus has resulted inthe country’s worst financial deficit since World War II. The country wasalready battling with the “Forest Fires” and the coronavirus further pushed thecountry into an “economic red zone”
The Month of July however, has seen some relief for peopleand a few sectors. A lot of people from across the globe have been seen goingback to their workplace/ offices.