The U.N. labor agency reported on Wednesday the number of home-based workers soared with the pandemic, prompting the need for more employment protections and access to health, legal and training resources.
The International Labor Organization estimated that before the outbreak of coronavirus, first detected in Wuhan, China in late December and declared a pandemic on March 11 by the World Health Organization, an estimated 260 million people, or about 7.9% of all workers globally, had home-based jobs. About 147 million, or 56%, were women.
