The income earned by workers round the world fell more than 10 per cent in the first nine months of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the International Labour Organization — a loss worth more than $3.5tn.

The estimate, which equates to 5.5 per cent of global gross domestic product, was derived from the number of working hours lost since the start of the pandemic. The figure does not take into account wage support schemes or state benefits used by governments to mitigate the loss of earnings.

The fall in working hours in the second quarter of 2020 was even sharper than previously thought, according to ILO research released on Wednesday, falling 17.3 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, equivalent to the loss of almost half a billion full-time jobs.