Four times as many jobs were lost last year due to the coronavirus pandemic as during the worst part of the global financial crisis in 2009, reports AP quoting a UN report.

The International Labor Organisation estimated that the restrictions on businesses and public life destroyed 8.8 per cent of all work hours around the world last year. That is equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs — quadruple the impact of the financial crisis over a decade ago.

“This has been the most severe crisis for the world of work since The Great Depression of the 1930s. Its impact is far greater than that of the global financial crisis of 2009,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

The fallout was almost equally split between reduced work hours and “unprecedented” job losses, he said.