The Early Labor Market Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries : Evidence from High-Frequency Phone Surveys
The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has sharply reduced mobility and economic activity, disrupting the lives of people around the globe. This paper presents estimates on the early impact of the crisis on labor markets in 39 countrie...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/526231610724036866/The-Early-Labor-Market-Impacts-of-COVID-19-in-Developing-Countries-Evidence-from-High-Frequency-Phone-Surveys http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35025 |
| Summary: | The economic crisis caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic has sharply reduced mobility and economic
activity, disrupting the lives of people around the globe.
This paper presents estimates on the early impact of the
crisis on labor markets in 39 countries based on
high-frequency phone survey data collected between April and
July 2020. Workers in these countries experienced severe
labor market disruptions following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Based on simple averages across countries, 34 percent of the
respondents reported stopping work, 20 percent of wage
workers reported lack of payment for work performed, 9
percent reported job changes due to the pandemic, and 62
percent reported income loss in their household. Stopping
work was more prevalent in the industrial and service
sectors than in agriculture. Measures of work stoppage and
income loss in the high-frequency phone survey are generally
consistent with gross domestic product growth projections in
Latin America and the Caribbean but not in Sub-Saharan
Africa. This suggests that the survey data contribute new
and important information on economic impacts in low-income countries. |
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