Locked down and locked out: Repurposing social assistance as emergency relief to informal workers

Ronak Jain, Joshua Budlender, Rocco Zizzamia and Ihsaan Bassier
Additional contact information
Joshua Budlender: University of Oxford
Rocco Zizzamia: School of Economics and SALDRU, University of Cape Town
Ihsaan Bassier: University of Massachusetts Amherst

No 264, SALDRU Working Papers from Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town

Abstract: We use newly-released South African data to present the first estimates of COVID-19-related employment and poverty impacts in a developing country. We observe a 40% decline in active employment. Half of this comprises job terminations, suggesting persistent labor market effects. Initially vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected. Exploiting the dataset's panel dimension and comparing lockdown incomes of job losers to re-weighted job retainers, we estimate that 20-33% of job losers fall into poverty. Only 20% of those temporarily not working received the intended relief, while a third of job losers had no access to any major form of social protection.

Keywords: Labor markets; poverty; unemployment; COVID-19; social protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H84 I32 I38 J21 J48 J63 J68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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