Rapid assessment of impact of covid-19 on labour, employment and productivity

Ministry of Labour and Social Development: Rapid assessment of impact of covid-19 on labour, employment and productivity.

This arises from the need to undertake a rapid assessment on the impact of covid-19 on labour, employment and productivity. The exercise will enable the design of the policy measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the labour market and on economic activity.

This would help abate a prolonged and deep recession, which would likely deepen inequality.

The objectives of the study are to;

• Assess the impacts of COVID-19 on labour, employment, and productivity in both formal and informal sectors.
• Assess the impact of COVID-19 on labour market and specific impact on national, firm/company and individual worker.
• Identify key sectors of the economy that require support to expand and mitigate negative impact of covid-19 on labour, employment and productivity.
• Assess the response, coping mechanisms and safety nets of firm/company and individual worker in light of covid-19.

The study employs mixed methods including desk reviews, quantity analysis based on primary data, and qualitative methods of data collection.

The study will analyze the pre-crisis situation from the EPRC’s business climate index (BCI) data set. Then it looks at the impact of the crisis on the overall economy, key sectors of the economy that are affected, he labour market, at the company level, at the level of workers, and the vulnerability of the informal sector.

It also seeks to gender-disaggregate data by a survey of firm managers and firm employees to understand the dynamics of how each gender was affected.

Response mechanisms of private actors; social protection in from health, economic and political risk; ability to work from home.