A new report recently released by the World Bank has revealed that less educated individuals have had the most difficulties getting re-employed after the global lockdown occasioned by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

“By February/March 2021, lower education turned out to be the main predictor of joblessness among those working pre-COVID-19. The impacts of the pandemic evolved differently in 2021, as governments lifted or adjusted restrictions and people, especially those with farms and businesses adapted to the situation. The least educated are 4 to 7 percentage points more likely to be jobless after one year into the pandemic than those with primary or higher education,” the report partly read.

In a report seen by Peoples Gazette on Thursday, the World Bank detailed that lower education became the predictor of joblessness among those working pre-COVID-19.

Drawing its inferences from a study conducted in Nigeria and three other Sub-Saharan African countries, including Malawi, Ethiopia, and Uganda, the report revealed that approximately 34 per cent of the sampled population lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, with the rate of job loss in Nigeria being particularly high.

COVID-19 pandemic hindered economic activities in Nigeria and other countries around the world, forcing businesses to close down after countries were compelled to adopt restrictions and lockdowns as measures to control the virus’s spread in the first and second quarters of 2020.

However, governments began to ease the lockdown in the latter months of 2020, with commercial activity and global businesses began to recover from the economic woes occasioned by the impact of the deadly virus.