Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Balde, Racky
Author-Email: balde@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University
Author-Name: Boly, Mohamed
Author-Email: mohamed.boly@etu.uca.fr 
Author-Workplace-Name: Universite Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, IRD, CERDI
Author-Name: Avenyo, Elvis
Author-Email: elvis.avenyo@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, and Department
	 of International Development, University of Oxford
Title: Labour market effects of COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa: An informality lens
	from Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that has put a local spotlight
	on sub-Saharan Africa’s socio-economic challenges. This paper presents
	real time survey evidence on the labour market effects of COVID-19 in
	Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso. We investigate how informality
	exacerbates the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on job loss,
	decrease in earnings, and difficulties for individuals to support their
	basic needs. We document a reduction in economic activities and find
	that workers in the informal economy tend to be more hard-hit by the
	COVID-19 pandemic. Informal workers are more likely to lose their jobs
	and tend to experience decrease in earnings. These findings also hold
	for those who work in high-risk sectors. Informal workers equally appear
	to be more likely to struggle to meet their basic needs in the midst of
	the pandemic. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.
Classification-JEL: J46, J63, O17, O55
Keywords: COVID-19, Crisis, Labour Market, Informality, Africa
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20200525
Number: 2020-022
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2020/wp2020-022.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2020022