A/HRC/45/8 contemporary forms of slavery before the outbreak. The experiences outlined below do not represent the full spectrum of the existing and evolving risks in the context of COVID-19. However, they provide information about trends that can inform further data-collection strategies and policy responses. 3. Informal workers 21. The socioeconomic impact of the outbreak will be much harsher for the 2 billion people in the informal economy, constituting 62 per cent of the global workforce.13 Their employment relationships are more easily broken and the safety nets available to them are fewer and weaker than those available to people in the formal economy. Informal workers have no access to paid or sick leave entitlements, and are less protected by conventional social protection mechanisms and other forms of income support. This concerns day labourers and temporary, non-contracted and own-account workers, including those in the so-called gig economy, promoted by digital labour platforms which employ, for example, taxi drivers and delivery workers. 22. Based on estimates by ILO, almost 1.6 billion informal economy workers have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living due to lockdown measures and/or because they work in the hardest-hit sectors.14 Furthermore, it is estimated that around 70 per cent of gig workers, many of whom quit their jobs due to a lack of demand or to protect their own safety, now have no income.15 23. In the absence of alternative choices, informal economy workers are more likely than before the outbreak to accept abusive and exploitative employment and may become tricked into forced labour. Those living in low-income and middle-income countries will be particularly affected, as informal employment represents 90 per cent of total employment in low-income countries and 67 per cent of total employment in middle-income countries.16 More workers will incur debts in order to survive, a trend already observed among informal workers in India17 and employees of brick kiln factories in Pakistan.18 As a consequence, the risk of becoming trapped in debt bondage increases. 24. As more workers are likely to enter the informal economy due to loss of formal employment,19 these additional workers may compete for a shrinking piece of the informal economy with those already working there. Consequently, incomes and working conditions will gradually deteriorate. 4. Women 25. Experiences from previous pandemics show that women often encounter the effects of such crises in different, more negative ways than men.20 They tend to be overrepresented in low-paid jobs and the sectors most affected by the crisis. They include those employed in the garment industry, where large numbers from low- and middle-income countries are employed. 21 In light of the massive layoffs and lack of access to social protection mechanisms, they are in an extremely vulnerable situation.22 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 6 ILO, “COVID-19 crisis and the informal economy: immediate responses and policy challenges”, ILO brief, May 2020, p. 1. ILO, “As job losses escalate, nearly half of global workforce at risk of losing livelihoods”, press release, 29 April 2020. Josephine Moulds, “Gig workers among the hardest hit by coronavirus pandemic”, World Economic Forum, 21 April 2020. ILO, “COVID-19 crisis and the informal economy”, p. 1. Freedom United, “Exposing the hidden victims of COVID-19: demanding better protections for victims and communities vulnerable to modern slavery”, May 2020, p. 12. Submission from Labour Education Foundation, Pakistan. ILO, “COVID-19 crisis and the informal economy”, p. 3. World Bank, “Gender dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic”, policy note, 16 April 2020, p. 1. ILO, “The COVID-19 response: getting gender equality right for a better future for women at work”, ILO brief, May 2020, p. 7. Submission from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.