'Lockdown generation' looms as pandemic risks robbing young of future

A waitress stands next to disinfectants after Prime Minister Dusko Markovic declared the country the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-free in Podgorica, Montenegro, on May 25, 2020. [Reuters]

Economic fallout from COVID-19 is hitting young workers so hard they risk becoming a "lockdown generation" scarred for life, with women the worst hit, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

A study by the U.N.'s International Labour Organization pointed to the "multiple shocks" young people now faced worldwide - losing work, education and training, income and the possibility of either finding or changing jobs.