section_path: Economic inequality
section_name: Economic inequality
paragraph_text: Economic inequality
  
  Since most of the workforce who preserved their jobs had the option of switching to an online modality, and the online workforce is considerably higher paid on average, the pandemic exacerbated income inequality by hitting harder on low-paid workers.
  
  Additionally, the global rise in extreme poverty rates during the pandemic further compounded these issues of economic inequality. According to the March 2024 update from the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), the global extreme poverty rate increased from 8.9% in 2019 to 9.7% in 2020, marking the first rise in decades. This increase was largely due to significant job losses and reduced income among the lowest earners, particularly in regions like South Asia where extreme poverty rose by 2.4 percentage points. Although some regions experienced a decline in poverty due to effective fiscal policies, such as in Brazil, the overall global trend indicates a widening gap between the economically vulnerable and those able to maintain or enhance their financial stability during the pandemic.