Recent studies have shown that approximately three million people in South Africa lost their jobs between February and April as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Women have accounted for two million of the jobs lost.
Calls are growing from those people employed in industries in distress, particularly the aviation, restaurant, and hotel sectors. The extent of job losses is causing irreparable harm to many families in our country.
Job losses have seemingly been concentrated among those who are already disadvantaged, including women, the youth and less educated people, only exacerbating existing inequalities in race, gender, earnings, location, education and occupation.
From children eating wild plants in an effort to survive, to families making tough choices on which bills to pay each month, the COVID-19 pandemic and the National Lockdown continue to take their toll on our people. According to many researchers, the number of households going hungry has increased significantly given the rapid loss of jobs and sources of income.
Author – Jessica Gooding
