According to Oxfam International’s annual inequality report, it will take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover.
The report, published Sunday ahead of the World Economic Forum’s virtual meeting of political and financial leaders, typically held in Davos, Switzerland, details the virus’s disparate impact around the world. The pandemic could increase economic inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened, Oxfam discovered.
“We are witnessing the biggest rise in inequality since the records began. The deep divide between rich and poor is proving to be just as deadly as the virus,” said Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam’s director. “Engineered economies are directing wealth to a wealthy elite who are dispelling the pandemic in luxury, while those at the front lines of the pandemic – shop workers, health workers and market vendors – struggle to pay the bills and bring food to the table.”
The coronavirus, which has infected nearly 100 million people and killed more than 2.1 million people worldwide, has put inequality in the spotlight. How people deal with it differs by race, gender and income.
For example, according to Oxfam, nearly 22,000 Black and Hispanic Americans would still be alive by December if these groups died from the virus at the same rate as white Americans.
And 112 million fewer women would be at risk of losing their income or job if men and women were equally represented in sectors hit by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the wealthy are generally quite resistant to the Covid storm. Although stock markets collapsed in the early months of the pandemic, they roared back – in part thanks to unprecedented economic help from governments.
Globally, billionaires’ net worth grew by $ 3.9 trillion between mid-March and the end of December, Oxfam calculated.
But the number of people living in poverty worldwide could have risen by as much as 500 million last year, according to an article by the UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research quoted by Oxfam.
Other reports have also shown that the pandemic has seriously affected the poor. A separate World Bank survey in October found that the pandemic could put as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty.
To combat this growing inequality, governments need to ensure that everyone has access to a Covid-19 vaccine and financial aid should they lose their jobs, Bucher said. Now is also the time for long-term investment in public services and low-carbon sectors to create millions of jobs and ensure that everyone has access to education, health and social care, she said.
In the US, Oxfam urged Congress to approve an economic recovery plan that invests in green jobs and supports the childcare sector, which will help women return to work and provide more assistance in the global fight against the pandemic.
“These measures should not be patching solutions for desperate times, but a ‘new normal’ in economies that benefit all people, not just the privileged,” said Bucher.
President Joe Biden has proposed a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus and economic aid package that includes additional stimulus payments, unemployment benefits, and food and housing. He has said he will unveil an economic recovery plan next month.
