Session 14: Socio-economic Impact on COVID-19
Moderator:
Yasuyuki Sawada



Impact of COVID-19 on labor markets in Southeast Asia  

While the COVID-19 shock spared no economy, its labor market disruption varies across sectors and depends on the virus's spread, policy responses, and underlying economic and labor market structures. Using employment elasticities to generate estimates of job losses when recent data are not available and labor force surveys when available, we find that COVID-19 had unprecedented impacts on Southeast Asian labor markets—massive job losses and unemployment, decline in labor force participation, and significant reductions in hours worked. The pandemic-induced reductions in employment also had differential effects on workers based on gender, skill level, and firms' production processes across sectors.

Author/s:

Sameer Khatiwada,Souleima El Achkar, Ian Generalao, and Mia Arao


JEL codes: E24, J21