Almost 800,000 workers in the formal and informal sectors had their salaries slashed, following the outbreak of COVID 19.

The Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, who made this known, said the pandemic has also affected businesses.

“In terms of the direct impact of COVID-19 on incomes, 46.1 percent of business establishments reported that they reduced wages for 25.7 percent of their workforce, which represents 770,124 workers.

“Pay reduction affected nearly 800,000 workers. The pandemic had a very negative effect on business as well. On average, firms estimated a possible decline of between 24% and 15% in employment, in the worst-case scenario.”

The financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic led to staff losing their jobs while others were forced to take salary cuts.

A survey by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations on the impact of COVID-19 on employment shows that 40 percent of workers experienced pay cuts between March and June 2020.

As a result, the government instituted a Tripartite Technical Committee to come up with modalities for the implementation of a National Unemployment Insurance Scheme.

The President had early on disclosed that about “770,000 workers had their wages reduced and about 42,000 employees were laid off during the 3-week partial lockdown imposed on the Greater Accra and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan areas.”