The Covid-19 pandemic and the months of lockdown have had an immense negative impact on economies worldwide, with entire industries forced to close their doors, affecting millions of workers who either lost their income for weeks on end or lost their jobs altogether, economist Mike Schussler noted during a webinar on August 28. Presenting trade union UASA’s nineteenth South African Employment Report (SAER), he said the latest forecasts for this year’s global gross domestic product (GDP) show the worst decline since the Great Depression in the late 1920s to early 1930s, while the average projected growth for 2021 indicates the best growth since 2011 and possibly even 2007.
