The varying impact of COVID by gender and occupation has necessitated policies to address vulnerabilities among people and support livelihoods by promoting businesses.
These findings emerged from research on the short- and long-term impact of COVID-19 on earnings and employment in the metropolitan city from March 2020 to the post-pandemic year, 2022. It shows how women experienced a greater loss in employment and paid working hours than men.
Globally, nearly 13 million people lost their jobs between 2019 and 20, of which about 4.2 per cent were women and 3.0 per cent were men, according to an International Labour Organisation report published in 2021. About 50 crores of poor and vulnerable informal workers in India struggled to meet their basic necessities during the pandemic. According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate increased significantly from 8.7 per cent in March 2020 to 23.0 per cent in April 2020.
In Ahmedabad, researchers conducted several surveys during the stringent lockdowns in March–April 2020 (Round 1, lockdown period), March–April 2021 (Round 2, pandemic year), September 2021 (Round 3, pandemic year), and September–October 2022 (Round 4, post-COVID pandemic). An analysis of the impact of the pandemic shows that women and low-skilled workers were more likely to have received a wage cut during the lockdown period. The research also points to a rising trend of the shift from wage employment to self-employment in both low- and high-skilled occupations during the post-pandemic era. There has been an ostensible churning of jobs post-pandemic, with more than a quarter of the respondents reporting a change in economic activity.
The study was jointly conducted by Ahmedabad University Professors Jeemol Unni and Sonal Yadav with Neha Gadhvi, Assistant Professor, Shri H. K. Commerce College. The research used data collected by students of Ahmedabad University in successive rounds of the studio course ‘Neighbourhoods’ as part of the Foundation Programme. The research has been published in The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, which can be read here.