ESCWA Publication: E/ESCWA/CL2.GPID/2021/POLICY BRIEF.1
Country: Lebanese Republic
Publication Type: Policy briefs
Cluster: 2030 Agenda and SDG Coordination
Focus Area: Future of employment
Initiatives: Sustainable urban development
SDGs: Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Keywords: Covid-19, Economic conditions, Employment, Employment creation, Private sector
Lebanon’s formal private sector: the bitter reality of 2020
February 2021
The Lebanese economy is in free fall, resulting in higher unemployment and extreme poverty. After the recent Beirut Port explosion, revisions of economic contraction reached -20 per cent following reductions in private sector activity that slashed Lebanese gross domestic product (GDP) and tax revenues. Recent data have revealed that around half of private sector sales stopped between 2019 and 2020, and 23 per cent of full-time employees in key sectors have been laid off. Further contraction in private sector activities is expected in 2021 if the COVID-19 vaccine is not rolled out on time, and political and economic reforms are not implemented.
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Future of employment
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The Lebanese economy is in free fall, resulting in higher unemployment and extreme poverty. After the recent Beirut Port explosion, revisions of economic contraction reached -20 per cent following reductions in private sector activity that slashed Lebanese gross domestic product (GDP) and tax revenues. Recent data have revealed that around half of private sector sales stopped between 2019 and 2020, and 23 per cent of full-time employees in key sectors have been laid off. Further contraction in private sector activities is expected in 2021 if the COVID-19 vaccine is not rolled out on time, and political and economic reforms are not implemented.
