COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?

The restrictions on mobility and economic activity that were put in place to mitigate the health impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic have had an unequal impact both across and within countries, with vulnerable populations within developi...

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Main Authors: Agrawal, Sarthak, Cojocaru, Alexandru, Montalva, Veronica, Narayan, Ambar, Bundervoet, Tom, Ten, Andrey
Format: Brief
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/700711624541133306/COVID-19-and-Inequality-How-Unequal-Was-the-Recovery-from-the-Initial-Shock
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35867
id okr-10986-35867
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-358672021-06-30T05:10:52Z COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock? Agrawal, Sarthak Cojocaru, Alexandru Montalva, Veronica Narayan, Ambar Bundervoet, Tom Ten, Andrey FOOD SECURITY INEQUALITY POVERTY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT JOB LOSS SELF-EMPLOYMENT The restrictions on mobility and economic activity that were put in place to mitigate the health impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic have had an unequal impact both across and within countries, with vulnerable populations within developing countries being affected disproportionately. An important concern is that the recovery may be similarly inequitable. Across the 17 developing countries in our sample, where policies became more conducive to mobility and economic activity, we indeed observe a partial recovery of employment and incomes in most countries, as well as improvements in food security. Although job recovery and lower policy stringency were accompanied by an overall fall in the share of the food-insecure population from 13 percent to 9 percent, those living in rural areas witnessed slower declines in food insecurity. However, the recovery was not only incomplete, but also uneven within countries. In particular, the recovery in employment among those who suffered larger initial shocks - - women, non-college-educated, and urban workers - - was not sufficient to significantly reduce the initial disparities in losses. By August-September, female employment had only recovered 30 percent of what was lost between pre-pandemic and May-June (versus 49 percent for men). Finally, more recent data for a smaller number of countries up to January 2021 indicates that while food security continued improving in these countries, recovery in employment appears to have stalled, while the disparities by gender and education persisted. 2021-06-29T19:17:31Z 2021-06-29T19:17:31Z 2021-06 Brief http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/700711624541133306/COVID-19-and-Inequality-How-Unequal-Was-the-Recovery-from-the-Initial-Shock http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35867 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Brief
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic FOOD SECURITY
INEQUALITY
POVERTY
CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
PANDEMIC IMPACT
JOB LOSS
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
spellingShingle FOOD SECURITY
INEQUALITY
POVERTY
CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
PANDEMIC IMPACT
JOB LOSS
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
Agrawal, Sarthak
Cojocaru, Alexandru
Montalva, Veronica
Narayan, Ambar
Bundervoet, Tom
Ten, Andrey
COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
description The restrictions on mobility and economic activity that were put in place to mitigate the health impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic have had an unequal impact both across and within countries, with vulnerable populations within developing countries being affected disproportionately. An important concern is that the recovery may be similarly inequitable. Across the 17 developing countries in our sample, where policies became more conducive to mobility and economic activity, we indeed observe a partial recovery of employment and incomes in most countries, as well as improvements in food security. Although job recovery and lower policy stringency were accompanied by an overall fall in the share of the food-insecure population from 13 percent to 9 percent, those living in rural areas witnessed slower declines in food insecurity. However, the recovery was not only incomplete, but also uneven within countries. In particular, the recovery in employment among those who suffered larger initial shocks - - women, non-college-educated, and urban workers - - was not sufficient to significantly reduce the initial disparities in losses. By August-September, female employment had only recovered 30 percent of what was lost between pre-pandemic and May-June (versus 49 percent for men). Finally, more recent data for a smaller number of countries up to January 2021 indicates that while food security continued improving in these countries, recovery in employment appears to have stalled, while the disparities by gender and education persisted.
format Brief
author Agrawal, Sarthak
Cojocaru, Alexandru
Montalva, Veronica
Narayan, Ambar
Bundervoet, Tom
Ten, Andrey
author_facet Agrawal, Sarthak
Cojocaru, Alexandru
Montalva, Veronica
Narayan, Ambar
Bundervoet, Tom
Ten, Andrey
author_sort Agrawal, Sarthak
title COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
title_short COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
title_full COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
title_fullStr COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 and Inequality : How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
title_sort covid-19 and inequality : how unequal was the recovery from the initial shock?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/700711624541133306/COVID-19-and-Inequality-How-Unequal-Was-the-Recovery-from-the-Initial-Shock
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35867
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