Ukraine’s coronavirus shutdown could leave up to half a million Ukrainians unemployed

Ukraine’s coronavirus shutdown could leave up to half a million Ukrainians unemployed, calculates Timofei Milavanov, Economy Minister until two weeks ago. “How many people will be left without work as a result of the crisis? In my opinion, from 170 to 500 thousand people. And this is a conservative estimate,” Milovanov writes on Facebook, drawing on Q1 data from China. “The most vulnerable to job loss during the crisis are informally employed workers. In Ukraine, this is about 20% of the total number of employees, or 3.4 million people. Of these, 22-23% work in the areas of trade, minor repairs, food, hotels and transport. That is approximately 700 thousand people.”