Mitigating the Consequences of Job Loss in Lower-Income Countries: Evidence from Ethiopia

Lukas Hensel (), Girum Abebe, Gerard, François () and Stefano Caria ()
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Lukas Hensel: Peking University
Gerard, François: University College London
Stefano Caria: University of Oxford

No 18537, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Job loss is an understudied risk for formal workers in lower-income countries. In these settings, lump-sum severance pay is often the only source of job-loss insurance. We quasi experimentally show that female factory workers in Ethiopia displaced by a tariff hike experience lasting declines in employment and consumption spending, and rising poverty. Experimentally, we find that additional lump-sum support induces early spending and reduces overall and manufacturing employment persistently. Disbursing an equivalent amount in tranches improves consumption smoothing and avoids adverse employment effects. Further, we document a high willingness to pay for additional insurance, alongside heterogeneous preferences over disbursement modality that shape responses to our interventions. These findings imply that increasing job-loss insurance raises welfare, although moving away from the lump-sum default can generate substantial additional gains.

Keywords: job loss; job-loss insurance; trade shock (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 J16 J63 J65 O12 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm
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