{"id":1968,"date":"2020-03-19T15:14:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T08:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illume-emag.com\/?p=1968"},"modified":"2020-03-19T15:17:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T08:17:48","slug":"hero-zero-coronavirus-upends-livelihoods-across-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/hero-zero-coronavirus-upends-livelihoods-across-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"From hero to zero: coronavirus upends livelihoods across Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday morning, Irish chef C\u00fa\u00e1n Greene woke up to the review of his life. Britain\u2019s\u00a0Observer\u00a0<\/em>newspaper told readers his cooking would make them \u201cthrillingly giddy and euphoric\u201d. Hours later he was out of a job.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bastible, the Dublin restaurant where he was head chef, was closing as a result of the growing threat from the coronavirus. Greene, 27, and 13 colleagues were all let go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get a great review, it\u2019s a special week every time, and those weeks turn into great months. That\u2019s what\u2019s upsetting because with what\u2019s going on, you feel slightly stunted,\u201d said Greene, who worked in the world famous Danish restaurant Noma before returning home to Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very hard to take, I have to admit and that\u2019s what makes me turn at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greene\u2019s woes are an example of how the coronavirus pandemic is laying waste to hospitality businesses across the board, irrespective of size or success. Employers across Europe are slashing jobs at a ferocious pace as emergency lockdowns shutter bars, restaurants and hotels, empty offices and ground airlines.<\/p>\n

It will be months before official national data reveals the scale of the destruction but the International Labour Organization warned on Wednesday that up to 25 million jobs could be lost globally if governments don\u2019t act fast, outpacing the 22 million jobs lost during the 2008-09 financial crisis.<\/p>\n

European countries have pledged hundreds of billions of euros to mitigate the economic impact of the virus and have eased the rules to make it easier for people to qualify for unemployment benefit and to help companies keep workers on.<\/p>\n

In Italy, the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe, the state has gone one step further, suspending any firing procedures begun after February 23.<\/p>\n

But even with the promises of cash, the scale of the crisis has authorities scrambling to deal with the demand for help.<\/p>\n

\u2018Savings\u00a0won’t last’<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Ireland, where Prime Minister Leo Varadkar estimated 100,000 people or more – almost 5% of the workforce – could lose their jobs within two weeks, about 20,000 people presented at unemployment offices to apply for benefits on Friday.<\/p>\n

In Germany, where joblessness had reached historic lows, companies have flooded local authorities with requests for state aid to finance short-time work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going through the roof,\u201d a spokeswoman for the Federal Labour Office said, adding that there was also interest from sectors that normally don\u2019t apply for such measures.<\/p>\n

In Belgium, about 30,000 firms have applied for temporary unemployment benefits for nearly 300,000 workers, a government spokesman said. If granted, the measure allows workers to be paid 70% of their salary by the state.<\/p>\n

The abruptness of the layoffs across Europe, coupled with the growing proportion of contract workers who may not qualify so easily for unemployment benefit, mean not everyone will be protected.<\/p>\n

Over 100,000 workers across Spain have been let go due to the coronavirus, and the total number could reach 1 million, the head of one of Spain\u2019s largest unions has said.<\/p>\n

In central Barcelona, Alejandra Paola Carrera, 27, is worried she won\u2019t qualify for state support because she only started contributing to the social security system last July.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy savings won\u2019t last me more than a month,\u201d said the office administrator who lost her job on Monday. \u201cI rent a flat with three others and we\u2019re all in the same situation: temporary workers, and just fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shock\u00a0for\u00a0young\u00a0people<\/strong><\/p>\n

Single mother Viviana, also in Barcelona, faces a challenge to support herself and her three-year-old daughter after losing her job working in recruitment for a real estate agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith what I earned from my last days of employment I won\u2019t be able to pay my rent, water, or any other bills,\u201d said the 31-year-old, who asked that her surname be withheld.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what I\u2019ll do,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019ll take whatever I can find, because I\u2019m a single mother and my daughter depends on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Poland, which had been enjoying record low unemployment, the job losses are particularly difficult for younger workers used to having options.<\/p>\n

Nicoise Kemp, 23, a student in Warsaw, lost her job at one of the city\u2019s top hotels after four years working there as a waitress and bartender.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now there isn\u2019t even any recruitment going on,\u201d she said. \u201cI think for students this was quite a shock, because one moment we had a job, we had university classes we were very busy, and then one day we don\u2019t have anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no mortgage or children, Greene, the Irish chef, said he was lucky he could survive on unemployment benefit for now and dip into savings if he had to.<\/p>\n

He plans to spend time with his family and learn the \u201cmillions of things\u201d that working in a busy kitchen does not allow, like honing his fermentation skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m staying very positive,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve bread on the go right now and I\u2019ve a plot in the garden where I\u2019m going to start planting vegetables. I\u2019m okay for now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday morning, Irish chef C\u00fa\u00e1n Greene woke up to the review of his life. Britain\u2019s\u00a0Observer\u00a0newspaper told readers his cooking would make them \u201cthrillingly giddy and euphoric\u201d. Hours later he was out of a job. Bastible, the Dublin restaurant where he was head chef, was closing as a result of the growing threat from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[1087,1123,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-1968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity-buzz","8":"tag-coronavirus","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-dai-dich-covid-19-en"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}