Covid-19 Impact on the Workers of the Informal Sector: A Longitudinal Study of Bangladesh

Abstract

The rapid spread of COVID-19 and subsequent restriction measures become a growing concern for its economic impacts as well. To address it, a study was undertaken to investigate the impacts upon the low-income people employed in the informal sectors in Bangladesh. The data of 372 respondents was collected through a structured questionnaire from the informal sectors in the cities of Dhaka and Chattogram, the most predominant hubs of the country’s informal workers. This study covered the period of the first wave of the pandemic in Bangladesh from its first detection (8 March 2020) to the onset of the second wave (February 2021). It was a little over the one year period that had been divided into four-time segments considering as before pandemic (January – March 2020), and during pandemic (1st quartile: April – July 2020; 2nd quartile: August – November 2020 and 3rd quartile: December 2020 - February 2021). In the 1st quartile during the pandemic, 65% of respondents' income revealed a sharp decline. This scenario continued in the 2nd and 3rd quartiles with the figure of 35% and 24% respectively. Thus, in each of the three quartiles during pandemic time slots, the majority of respondents' consumption, living standard, schooling, and access to health care facilities were found negatively impacted. By the continuity of time some of the respondents were able to settle them in the new socio-economic condition. Overall, these results indicated several recommendations, including extending basic assistance to these vulnerable groups.

Social protection programmes in mitigating the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparative study of Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa

“…Similar findings were found in Bangladesh, where data from 372 undocumented workers in the most populated informal labour hubs in the country-the cities of Dhaka and Chattogram-shows that during the epidemic, 65% of respondents' income declined sharply in the first quartile (Firoj et al, 2021). The second and third quartiles showed similar trends, with percentages of 35% and 24%, respectively (Firoj et al, 2021).…”

“…In a similar manner, in India, a study demonstrated that the epidemic significantly influenced poverty, hunger, deprivation, unemployment, and economic and social inequalities in the country's informal sector (Gururaja & Ranjitha, 2022). Similar findings were found in Bangladesh, where data from 372 undocumented workers in the most populated informal labour hubs in the country-the cities of Dhaka and Chattogram-shows that during the epidemic, 65% of respondents' income declined sharply in the first quartile (Firoj et al, 2021). The second and third quartiles showed similar trends, with percentages of 35% and 24%, respectively (Firoj et al, 2021).…”

“…This pattern continued in the second and third quartiles, with figures of 35% and 24%, respectively. Thus, during pandemic time slots, most of the respondents' consumption, living standard, schooling, and access to health care facilities were found to be negatively impacted in each of the three quartiles (Firoj et al, 2021).…”

“…The study concludes that the pandemic has adversely affected poverty, hunger, deprivation, unemployment, and economic and social inequality in India's informal sector (Gururaja & Ranjitha, 2022). Similarly, in Bangladesh, a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 372 informal workers in the cities of Dhaka and Chattogram, which are the most populous informal worker hubs in the country, to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on low-income earners (Firoj et al, 2021). The study results indicated that during the pandemic, 65 percent of respondents' income fell sharply in the first quartile.…”

The COVID-19: Socioeconomic Crisis and Its Management on a Bangladeshi Coastal Island

“…In addition, the non-pharmaceutical food supply, etc., socially stigmatized healthcare workers, strategies followed to limit the spread of such diseases created making them depressed. This situation has also made it hard several socio-economic crises that further disrupted the for farmers and people who work in the garment industry to normal life and social well-being of human beings (Bodrudmake a living because market demand has gone down and Doza et al, 2020; Bukuluki et al, 2020;Firoj et al, 2021; there have been problems in the supply chain (Gautam et al, Kithiia et al, 2020;Mulugeta et al, 2021). This safety measure 2022).…”