Differential Impact of COVID-19 by Occupation: Survey Findings From Indian Punjab

Abstract

This paper analyzes the differential impact of COVID-19 by occupation in Mansa, Punjab, India. Propensity score matching is used to analyze the difference in income recovery rates of permissible and restricted occupations based on restrictions in the initial period of the lockdown. Analysis of income of 55 randomly selected households shows that the restricted occupations lagged in their recovery rate after six months of lockdown.

COVID-19 and Differential Income Recovery: Survey Evidence from Indian Punjab

“…Data of the first and second rounds were used to analyse the initial impact of lockdown and the effect of lockdown restrictions on household income. The results were published in Singh et al (2020) and Singh et al (2021). The present paper differs from the earlier two in terms of a detailed examination of the long-run implication of the pandemic.…”

“…Since the link between income loss in initial phases and lockdown restrictions is not apparent, it needs a discussion. Lockdown restrictions had a differential bearing on income (see Singh et al, 2021). However, we did not collect data on lockdown restrictions for individual workers.…”

“…Empirical evidence not only shows differential impact of the pandemic on vulnerable sections but also suggests slower recovery of their income. Singh et al (2021) showed that households, whose main occupation had fallen in the restricted category in the initial phase of lockdown (with no possibility of work from home), continued to lag in terms of income recovery even after lifting the restrictions. Since households in the restricted category were earning 44% less even in the PL period, the differential recovery rates meant excessive burden on vulnerable sections.…”

Household investment diversification amid Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from Chinese investors

“…Most indexes of economic uncertainty have reached the peak ( Altig et al 2020 ) . Moreover, Covid-19 is a continuous reallocation shock (Barrero et al, 2021; Singh, Singh and Baruah, 2021 ), it changes the way of commuting ( Chinazzi et al, 2020 ) and have a profound impact on governments (Kizys et al, 2020), firms ( Acharya and Steffen, 2020 ; Carletti et al, 2020 ; Ramelli and Wagner, 2020 ) and family ( Baker et al, 2020b ; Hanspal et al, 2020a , 2020b ; O'Donoghue et al, 2020 ).…”