80% of Yemeni Workforce Lost Jobs after Years of US-Saudi Aggression, Siege

Workers around the world celebrate May Day, or International Workers’ Day while most of Yemen’s workers have lost their jobs and salaries and endure difficult and harsh living conditions.

According to a report issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, the aggression on Yemen more than six years ago caused 5 million workers to lose their jobs, while the Yemeni Workers Union estimates that the proportion of those who lost their jobs is about 80% of the workforce in the country.

Worst Disaster

The Secretary-General of Yemen Trade Unions, Ali Bamahison, said that Yemen’s workers are suffering in light of the continuing war, killing, destruction and siege, which has caused the worst humanitarian disaster for the Yemeni people, workers and female workers in particular, as all walks of life have been affected. Poverty rates have doubled, the economic and humanitarian situation has deteriorated, and the unemployment crisis has worsened.

Bamahisoun emphasized that Yemen’s workers live in harsh conditions and steadfastly face the tragic conditions imposed on them due to the war and the severe siege imposed by the coalition, in addition to the bombing of economic and industrial facilities causing the disruption of many facilities and laying off hundreds of thousands of workers.

The Federation of Yemeni Trade Unions held the Saudi coalition responsible for destroying the workforce in Yemen, revealing that it had targeted 355 factories and caused 15,000 employees to lose their job opportunities in the oil sector.

According to official reports, the aggression has led to the cessation of many businesses, companies, and public and private institutions, as the stoppage of some companies and cement factories has caused the layoffs of about 50 thousand workers. The companies of exploration, and oil production, food industries, mineral and plastic materials have stopped, which affected the situation of thousands of workers, waiting on the sidewalk of unemployment, without any hope of stabilizing the situation again.

Severe Suffering

About one million and 200 thousand government employees, respectively, live in harsh suffering due to the suspension of their salaries and the lack of any other sources of income to help them meet their needs, as they support families whose members number about 5 million people.

Those concerned with the Yemeni Workers Union attributed the reason of the suffering to the transfer of central bank jobs to Aden, which caused the suspension of the payment of salaries of all Yemeni workers and affected their livelihood.

Targeting Industrial, Production Facilities

The Yemeni Workers Union affirmed that the US-Saudi aggression targeted industrial and productive facilities, and led to most factories and institutions out of readiness, the accumulation of unemployment, the loss of workers to their jobs, and the imposition of a land, sea and air blockade of economic activity.

In a recent report, it mentioned that targeting the banking sector led to the loss of confidence of domestic and foreign depositors and the withdrawal of deposits from banks, which had a major impact on cash liquidity, the rise in the exchange rate, and the loss of large amounts of money in all Yemeni banks.

The targeting of the oil and minerals sector by the UAE, the blockade and the closure of outlets for the entry of oil and supply derivatives and the detention of fuel tankers caused their prices to rise and overburdened the citizen in general, and caused losses and damages estimated by the Federation of Yemeni Trade Unions at about $ 23 billion and the stoppage and migration of 40 oil companies between productivity and exploratory.

Yemen Is Without a Labor Force

Observers believe that Yemen has officially become without a workforce with the collapse of the economy, the suspension of business, and the labor market became overcrowded with unemployment.

Observers emphasized that the labor market and Yemeni workers suffer from chronic problems for which they could not find a solution that preserves their wasted rights, in addition to the lack of insurance, especially in the private sector, whose severe effects are embodied since the beginning of the war, as many workers found themselves without work, rights and without insurance.

International Community Ignoring 

In light of the international community’s disregard for the damages inflicted on the Yemeni workforce at home and abroad, the workers’ tragedies escalated, their pain exacerbated and their self-esteem increased without an answer.
Nevertheless, Yemeni workers today mark their annual holiday with more tragedies, and the material and psychological losses of this important and vital sector outweigh any losses and damages they have suffered because of the aggression and blockade that Yemenis for six years, the losses of the labor sector and the Yemeni worker have doubled to unprecedented levels.

Translated from Al-Mayadeen