On March 24 2020, the Indian government announced a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19. Implemented with just four hours’ notice, the lockdown forced millions of suddenly out-of-work migrants to return to their villages –often by foot over long distances. How can migrant-sending states support labor market opportunities for migrants without compromising COVID…
Is Heading Home a Dead End? COVID-Induced Migration and Local Labor Market Opportunities in Rural India
Assessing the Impact of the Shock on the Most Vulnerable
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a particular challenge for low-income and fragile countries, as well as vulnerable groups, particularly women. Our Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey (SLMPS) 2020 project, with planned data collection starting in August/September 2020, has benefited from support from the GLM | LIC project. The study proposes additional data collection and research on…
The Effects of Employer Responses to COVID-19 on Female Garment Workers in Bangladesh
Export manufacturing in low-income countries has been devastated by COVID-19. For instance, 46% of garment factories in Bangladesh report that “a lot” to “most” of their orders have been cancelled (Anner 2020), leading to mass demonstrations by workers who had not been paid for 3 months (Daily Star; April 17, 2020). Female workers are likely…
Leveraging “Big Data” to Improve Labor Market Outcomes
Rapidly expanding Internet access has dramatically changed job seeking across the developing world. This surge in access has occurred alongside a private sector-led expansion of online job portals providing search and matching services Despite these technological gains, labor market challenges often abound in lower-‐income countries, with high overall unemployment and often low or stagnant female…
Tracking the Value of Time of Informal Sector Workers during and Post-Curfew in Nairobi, Kenya
Covid-19 is already having widespread consequences in Nairobi, Kenya including the loss of earnings and starvation. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is considerable heterogeneity. For example, vendors who can still sell essential goods have been less impacted, while some others have completely lost their earnings. Women have fared disproportionately worse, with higher incidences of job…
Resilience and Recovery: The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Informal Sector in Uganda
The number of COVID-19 cases in Africa is exponentially increasing and WHO experts fear not only many fatalities but also devastating social and economic consequences. African governments have responded to the pandemic by strict shutdowns of public life and, thereby, economic activities. The pandemic therefore not only imposes a global health threat, but it poses…
Assessing the Labor Market Impact of COVID-19 on Women with Young Children in Egypt
Women with young children are doubly challenged by the pandemic. Disproportionately responsible for caregiving, yet faced with the loss of child care options in light of the pandemic and lockdowns, they will face particular difficulties in retaining or gaining work and may face increased stress and pressures within the household. These women are already the…
Returns to Childcare and Capital: Experimental Evidence from Uganda
Microenterprises are an important source of employment, and developing such enterprises is a key policy concern in most countries, especially in low-income countries where they employ more than half of the labor force. While there is optimism about the power of finance for small-scale business development, a growing literature shows that success cannot be taken…
Taming Counterfeits Markets with Consumer Information
Access to quality inputs is critical to boosting agricultural productivity. However, quantitative research (Tjernström et al 2017; Bold et al 2017; Ashour et al 2019) and news reports (Muchiri 2019; Okinda 2019) find that the quality of agricultural inputs—such as seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides–is often low in rural African markets. The inability of buyers to…
Remittances and Coping with COVID‐19
The study seeks to support the Philippine COVID‐19 response by quantifying the role of international migrant remittances in helping households cope with the pandemic’s economic consequences. Remittances are known to provide important support for migrant‐origin households experiencing negative shocks. Little is known about whether migrants who are themselves experiencing negative shocks are able to provide…