Abstract
This article traces income and employment changes through various phases of the lockdown based on primary data. It analyses the coping strategies of people in response to fall in their income. The article reveals that there was a large drop in income and employment with the announcement of lockdown. While there is some recovery with easing of the lockdown, the income at the time of survey is still substantially lower than its pre-lockdown level. Casual labour households with the largest fall in income and employment are the most affected. Income and employment losses are also higher among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Caste (OBC) households. In the absence of any income, the households either had to live off their savings or had to borrow money for their basic needs. With rapidly depleting savings, borrowing approached its limits, and with slow recovery of income, households may need substantial government assistance to save them from deprivation.
Highlights
COVID-19 has caused the biggest health emergency of recent history with drastic economic consequences
In the absence of a cure or vaccine, the governments have adopted the policies of lockdowns, large-scale testing with contact tracing and isolation and voluntary social distancing to forestall its spread
Countries were already looking at contraction of economic activity due to the fear of COVID-19 (Gopinath, 2020a), while the lockdowns further aggravated the problem, leading to large-scale income and employment losses (Coibion et al, 2020; Fairlie et al, 2020; Gopinath, 2020b; Rojas et al, 2020)
Summary
COVID-19 has caused the biggest health emergency of recent history with drastic economic consequences. Countries were already looking at contraction of economic activity due to the fear of COVID-19 (Gopinath, 2020a), while the lockdowns further aggravated the problem, leading to large-scale income and employment losses (Coibion et al, 2020; Fairlie et al, 2020; Gopinath, 2020b; Rojas et al, 2020). The present study sheds light on some of these missing aspects, using data from a primary survey conducted in the city of Mansa in Indian Punjab It examines income and employment implications of fear of COVID-19 and the policy of lockdown.
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