Analysing the Impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) From the Perspective of Decent Work: A Comparison of the Pre‐ and Post‐COVID‐19 Periods

Ali Osman Uymaz, Serdar Arslan, Nuri Celiker and Sergen Gursoy

Journal of International Development, 2025, vol. 37, issue 6, 1267-1294

Abstract: This study presents a novel approach to COVID‐19 impact analysis, delving into the correlation between the pandemic and the unemployment/NEET (youth not in employment, education or training) rates, labour productivity levels and practices regarding basic employee rights of UN member countries and the SDG. It juxtaposes two distinct periods: pre‐COVID‐19 (2017–2019) and COVID‐19 (2020–2022). The study also evaluates the sufficiency/necessity levels of condition variables on SDG for both periods and aims to provide country‐specific inferences. The data obtained from three different databases were analysed using symmetric (PLS‐SEM) and asymmetric (fsQCA) methods to ensure that the findings are complementary to each other in order to increase the validity of the research. The study's findings unveil a significant negative relationship between NEET and SDG in both periods, with the strength of the relationship intensifying during the COVID‐19 period. Importantly, the absence of NEET was identified as the sole necessary condition for the presence of SDG. These findings hold practical implications for policymakers and practitioners and enrich the sustainable development literature.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.70006

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:37:y:2025:i:6:p:1267-1294

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Development is currently edited by Paul Mosley and Hazel Johnson

More articles in Journal of International Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().