Full-time jobs lost in Africa 2020, by sub-region

The African continent lost an average of 4.5 percent of its working hours due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the the fourth quarter of 2020, which was equivalent to a projection of 30 million full-time jobs. Throughout the first three quarters of the mentioned year, the effect was most severe in the second quarter for all sub-regions.

In the fourth quarter, with respect to the sub-regions, Eastern Africa was estimated to have lost the most full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, reaching 6 million. Western Africa, Northern Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa followed with 4, 4, 2, and 1, respectively.

Full-time jobs lost in Africa during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the 1st quarter of 2020 to the 4th quarter of 2020 (in millions), by sub-region

Characteristic	Q1 2020	Q2 2020	Q3 2020	Q4 2020
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Release date

January 2021

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Region

Africa

Survey time period

Q1 to Q4 2020

Special properties

Estimates as of January 25, 2021

Supplementary notes

The source estimated the values based on a model namely "nowcasting model".

Values were calculated taking employment levels of the fourth quarter of 2019 as the baseline.

To demonstrate the magnitude of the predicted hours lost, the equivalent losses in full time jobs are introduced. They are calculated based on the assumption that decreases in working hours were borne entirely and comprehensively by a group of full-time workers, while the rest of the workers experienced no reduction in working hours.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs data that is more than 50 million are rounded up to five million, while the values lower than the threshold are rounded to the closest million.

According to the source, the figures should not be interpreted as number of jobs lost or actual increase in unemployment,

A benchmark of working hours before the pandemic was used to compute the FTEs of working hours percentage-drops.

Full-time jobs are considered as those with a workload of 48 hours per week.

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