How an invisible microbe wreaked unemployment havoc Updated / Tuesday, 29 Dec 2020 10:04 Industry and Employment Correspondent As 2020 draws to a close, literally hundreds of thousands of workers are facing joblessness, financial uncertainty and fear for the future. The year had begun so well - and no one could have forecast such a bleak outcome. Back in February, unemployment stood at around 4.8% - in economic terms, that is almost full employment. Incomes were rising, and the economy was buoyant, delivering a surplus of round 0.4% of GDP in 2019. But on 29 February came the first case of Covid-19 - and everything changed utterly. As the virus took hold, there were two questions for workers in Ireland.