The havoc wrecked by the partial lockdown in Ghana as a result of the Coronavirus had left many aspects of the economy devastated, especially increasing unemployment and shooting poverty rate into the sky level.

According to the Trade Union Congress (TUC), job losses had been recorded in all sectors of the economy, which workers in the informal sector were the ones worse affected.

The TUC by its Director of Labour Research and Policy Institute, Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo stated that declined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is already manifesting in job losses and livelihoods in both formal and informal sectors of the economy.

He was speaking at the Social Policy Forum sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) dubbed: “Economic and social impacts of Covid-19 on businesses and workers” Friday in Accra.

“With hotels reporting massive declines in occupancy, international and domestic airlines grounded, restaurants and schools closed and exports/imports halted, joblessness, job insecurity and income insecurity are affecting hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians if not millions,” he said.

Employers in the informal sector are announcing mass lay-offs, and it affecting those below the employment chain such as part-time employees and causal workers who are the most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, eleven out of the13 million Ghanaians are above 15 years of age and depend on some form of informal economy activity for their livelihoods and survival, therefore many of them risk falling into severe poverty and destitution without government support.

To protect livelihood, he underscored the importance that “we need a large scale and dedicated programme for the protection of livelihoods for the informal economy operators. The programme must be designed to support all categories if informal economy operators including self-employed, self-employed with employees and employees,”

The list of informal sector workers should include small-scale farmers, musicians, masons, carpenters, electricians steel benders and other artisans, as well as barbers, beauticians, dress makers, and other group of self-employed people.

He charged the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) of the TUC to play key role to help government determine the potential losses how they should be compensated.

To reduce the impact of financial burdens on poor households as a result of global Covid-19, he suggested that social grant equivalent to the National Poverty Line in the sum of GH140 should be allocated to vulnerable homes continuously for three months.

Similarly, in preventing job losses, the government adopt what is practice in Germany called “Kurzarbeit” that ensure workers are not laid-off but their working period is reduced and they alternate working time.

FES Resident Director, Johann Ivanov commented on how Covid-19 had caused global humanitarian crises, leading to economic depression as well as people losing their jobs and lives.

He also stated Germany adoption and implementation of Kurzarbeit has reduced the impact of the pandemic on their economy, since companies are supported by the government to pay workers up to two-thirds of their wages.

By Akutu Dede Adimer