• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV
Monday, December 11, 2023
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Opinion
  • Infographics
  • Listen To CitiFM
  • Watch Citi TV
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Opinion
  • Infographics
  • Listen To CitiFM
  • Watch Citi TV
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
No Result
View All Result

Ghana’s lockdown hit vulnerable workers hard: what needs to happen next time

March 23, 2021
ShareShareShareShare

Coronavirus lockdowns brought the world to a standstill. Rules on hygiene and social distancing have reshaped daily life, schools and businesses had been closed, and gatherings banned. Almost 2.7 billion workers, representing around 81% the world’s workforce, have been affected by partial or full lockdown regulations.

We looked at how the lockdown strategies in Ghana affected the labour market in the country. The aim was to identify lessons that could be learnt from Ghana’s policy response to the pandemic. And to glean insights that could be useful for the design of future policies in Ghana as well as other countries in the region.

Ghana’s experience illustrates the difficult balance between protecting lives and livelihoods. It also highlights the challenge of designing targeted policies that ensure the most vulnerable are not being left behind.

Ghana was one of the first African countries to enact stringent policies to slow the spread of the virus. The urban centres of Accra and Kumasi – which emerged as transmission “hotspots” – were under lockdown from 30 March to 19 April 2020.

The partial lockdown did not last long enough to flatten the pandemic curve. But our paper outlines how it had a large economic impact, triggering job losses and business closures. Many Ghanaians have been able to resume work since the most rigid regulations were relaxed. Nevertheless the labour market recovery has remained partial and uneven, and the economic burden of the pandemic continues to fall on the most vulnerable.

Impact on workers

In our research, we talked to more than 600 workers in different cities throughout Ghana to assess how their livelihoods were affected by the pandemic.

Three main findings emerged.

Firstly, the lockdown had an immediate impact on the labour market, as illustrated in the left hand graph.

GSPS-COVID-19 survey

Workers in districts affected by the lockdown were more than twice as likely to drop out of work in the early phases of the pandemic. And only one out of three workers in lockdown districts continued working throughout April 2020, compared to two out of three in districts that had no lockdown.

In both cases, the vast majority reported workplace and business closures due to government regulations as the main reason for this break in economic activity.

Secondly, the gap in employment levels between locations subject to different lockdown policies had closed four months after the measures were relaxed. Despite this remarkable recovery in employment, as illustrated in the right-hand graph, the pandemic had a persistent nationwide effect on the labour market. We estimated that by September 2020 employment was still 12 percentage points lower compared to February that year. And average weekly earnings remained substantially below the pre-COVID-19 levels. This was even after accounting for differences in the compositions of the workforce.

Thirdly, the pandemic’s shock to the labour market did not affect all workers equally. Rather, it exposed and exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities.

The graph below exemplifies this unequal impact.

GSPS-COVID-19 survey

Business owners in the informal economy most often had to stop their activities in the early phases of the pandemic and saw a slower near-term recovery in terms of both employment and earnings. This means that people in contact intensive environments such as restaurants, tourism businesses, small retail shops, and street vending were the most affected.

Most were low-income earners with no or small savings, who needed to earn a living on a daily basis and were at high risk of being left destitute without targeted assistance.

In Ghana, females make up the majority of the vulnerable self-employed, and our research shows that women remain disproportionally affected by the pandemic in terms of both employment and earnings.

The Ghanaian government rolled out measures to support the poor and vulnerable as well as businesses. These interventions which were covered under the coronavirus alleviation programme seek to mitigate the disruption in economic activities, the hardship of the people and also to rescue and revitalise micro, small and medium scale businesses. For instance, under the coronavirus alleviation programme business support scheme, the National Board for Small Scale Industries disbursed soft loans to micro, small and medium scale businesses operating in agribusinesses, manufacturing, water and sanitation, tourism and hospitality, education, food and beverages, technology, transportation, commerce and trade, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and textiles and garments.

Making sure no one is left behind

For policymakers around the world, navigating the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult balancing act between protecting public health and the economy. As COVID-19 cases surge again, how should Ghana reconcile health and economic risks? And how can the country prevent a backsliding in progress on reducing poverty and mitigate further pressures to inequality?

Our research shows that future containment policies will need to be coupled with protective measures that prevent the most vulnerable workers from being left behind in the crisis.

In this case, containment measures must be complemented by adequate relief to the poor and vulnerable in a quick, safe, and effective manner. In order to restore income and preserve livelihoods, income support in the form of direct cash payments to those in need are crucial.

There are a few green shoots in the labour market, given that many Ghanaians have been able to start working again. We argue that these can be attributed to the policies adopted by the Ghanaian government such as the timely lifting of the partial lockdown and the swift support to households and businesses.

But more needs to be done to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on informal workers, particularly women. It is important for countries to develop measures to support workers in this segment of employment. Ghana rather seems to be doing better compared to other developing countries. These interventions should be aimed at addressing the hardship of households as well as the disruption in their economic activities. Particularly, governments can develop safety nets to support informal workers until they are able to return to work.The Conversation

Kunal Sen, Professor and Director, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations University; Michael Danquah, Research Fellow, United Nations University; Robert Darko Osei, Associate Professor, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER),, University of Ghana, and Simone Schotte, Research Associate, United Nations University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Source: The Conversation
Tags: CoronavirusLockdown
Previous Post

GB Foods constructs wellness centre for Ga East Hospital

Next Post

Achimota School PTA backs management in Rastafarians admission saga

Next Post

Achimota School PTA backs management in Rastafarians admission saga

TOP STORIES

Bring Starlink to the discussion table – Bunkpurugu MP to NCA

December 10, 2023

BOST donates GH¢100k worth of relief aid to Akosombo Dam spillage victims

December 10, 2023

Bawumia: Digitalization agenda driving transparency in Ghanaian economy

December 10, 2023
Load More
ADVERTISEMENT
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana

CitiNewsroom.com is Ghana's leading news website that delivers high quality innovative, alternative news that challenges the status quo.

Archives

Download App

Download

Download

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV

© 2023 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Opinion
  • Infographics
  • Listen To CitiFM
  • Watch Citi TV
  • Videos

© 2023 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT