KABUL: More than half a million people have lost or pushed out of their work in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, said the UN International Labor Organization (ILO) on Wednesday.

In a warning that the economy was “paralyzed”, the ILO said that there was a big loss in work and working hours, the United Nations said in a statement.

The statement said that women had been hit very hard. In the middle of this year, it is hoped that the loss of work will increase to nearly 700,000 – with the prediction of the topping of 900,000 – as a result of the crisis in Afghanistan and “restrictions on women’s participation in the workplace”.

The level of female employment is very low by global standards, but the ILO said that they were estimated to have decreased by 16 percent in the third quarter of 2021, and they could fall between 21 percent and 28 percent in mid 2022.

“The situation in Afghanistan is very important and direct support for stabilization and recovery is needed,” said Ramin Behzad, the senior coordinator of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Afghanistan. “While the priority is to meet direct humanitarian needs, lasting and inclusive recovery will depend on people and people who have access to decent work, livelihoods, and basic services.”

Hundreds of thousands of work losses have been seen in several main sectors that have been “destroyed” since takeover, the ILO said.

This includes agriculture and civil service, where workers have been released or left unpaid. In construction, 538,000 this sector workers – where 99 percent are men – have suffered too, because the main infrastructure project has stopped, the statement said.

Taliban takeover has also caused “hundreds of thousands” Afghan security forces members lost their jobs, said the ILO, noting that teachers and health workers were very affected by the lack of cash in the economy, in the midst of falling international donor support.