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The Covid 19 Crisis And The South African Informal Economy
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Book Synopsis COVID-19 and the Informal Economy by : Martha Chen
Download or read book COVID-19 and the Informal Economy written by Martha Chen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. A key challenge for the post-COVID global economy is whether the disproportionate impact of the crisis on informal workers, who form the majority of the world's workforce, will be acknowledged. Or whether harmful and negative stereotypes will persist. Today, despite the role of these essential frontline workers - producing, processing, selling, cooking and delivering food, providing cleaning, childcare, eldercare, healthcare, transport, waste removal, and other essential services - many observers consider the informal economy to be non-compliant (resisting registration and taxation) and associate it with low productivity (a drag on the economy) or with crime (illegal activities) and grime (blight on modern cities). Yet, most informal workers are working poor trying to earn an honest living in often hostile environments. Most suffered severe declines in work and earnings during successive waves of the COVID pandemic, and related restrictions and recessions, and have gone deeper into debt and depleted their savings and assets in order to survive. This book explores and informs answers to that key challenge. It presents findings on the impact of the COVID crisis on informal workers in Asia, Africa, and North and Latin America. The chapters of the volume analyse the impact of the COVID crisis on informal workers, interrogate whether and which economic recovery plans and schemes include informal workers, and explore what a more inclusive economic recovery and reforms might look like.
Book Synopsis The COVID-19 Crisis and the South African Informal Economy by : Michael Rogan
Download or read book The COVID-19 Crisis and the South African Informal Economy written by Michael Rogan and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper seeks to identify the differentiated impacts of the crisis on specific groups of informal workers. The analysis draws on official nationally representative labour force surveys collected quarterly by South Africa's national statistical agency (Statistics South Africa). Based on an analysis of six quarters of labour market data (with the first quarter of 2020 as the 'pre-COVID' baseline), the paper aims to identify the labour market impacts of the first three waves of the pandemic and of one of the world's strictest 'lockdowns' (as it was described at the time-in April 2020). In investigating the contours of the pandemic's impact on the South African informal economy, the paper focuses, in particular, on the different impacts by gender, sector, and status in employment. The findings show that both relative and absolute job losses have been greater in the informal economy, while the rate and level of recovery have been greater for formal employment. Further, the data suggest uneven impacts within the informal economy with women informal workers, those working in the informal sector and those in retail and community and social services being particularly hard hit. The pandemic period has thus widened pre-existing inequalities and fault lines. In policy terms, this suggests that the informal economy should be a priority in economic recovery efforts but also that support requires differentiated approaches and a range of measures.
Book Synopsis The Long Shadow of Informality by : Franziska Ohnsorge
Download or read book The Long Shadow of Informality written by Franziska Ohnsorge and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2022-02-09 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.
Book Synopsis Exploring the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Informal Economy in Durban, South Africa by : Thulile Sinethemba Mhlangu
Download or read book Exploring the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Informal Economy in Durban, South Africa written by Thulile Sinethemba Mhlangu and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The African Informal Economy written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-06-17 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The informal sector is a vital sustainer of the African economy, employing more than 60% of sub-Saharan Africans. The book examines diverse segments of the informal sector, putting into consideration their structure, dynamics, resilience and gender issues. Chapters are based on empirical research on women in the transport sector, vehicle maintenance artisanship, graduates in the informal sector, COVID 19, and the informal economy. Other chapters focus on the indigenous usury finance system, coconut oil production, herbal medicine, and the gig economy across countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Togo, and Burkina Faso.
Book Synopsis Recovering from COVID-19: Economic scenarios for South Africa by : van Seventer, Dirk
Download or read book Recovering from COVID-19: Economic scenarios for South Africa written by van Seventer, Dirk and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the South African economy emerges from the downturn induced by COVID-19, policy makers are concerned with recovery, reconstruction, and transformation. This paper focuses on the recovery from the severely depressed levels of economic activity that occurred in April 2020. However, before considering the period after the economic trough of April 2020, a mention of economic conditions prior to the pandemic is worthwhile. In brief, economic performance was terrible by almost any metric. Furthermore, economic performance had been poor since 2008, with evidence pointing to ongoing deterioration culminating in the fourth quarter of 2019, when per capita GDP contracted, unemployment ticked upwards to its highest level since 1994, productivity declined, and inequality worsened. The striking difficulties of the South African economy in avoiding/absorbing shocks-whether internally generated, such as shocks to electricity supply, or externally generated, such as changes in terms of trade or investor sentiment in relation to emerging markets-have been an integral part of this disappointing economic performance over time. In short, the situation prevailing prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was one of economic weakness. Beginning from this position of weakness, the economic shock related to COVID-19 was enormous, likely the largest single economic shock in the history of South Africa. According to official statistics, GDP in the second quarter of 2020 was approximately 17% below the level registered in the second quarter of 2019. In assessing this shock, it is important to recall that GDP is a flow concept. One can, in principle, consider the volume of flow over any arbitrary period: a day, a week, a month, a quarter, a semester, a year, and so forth. The lockdown associated with COVID-19 precipitated an extraordinarily rapid decline in economic activity. Indeed, the available analytics and data point to a trough in economic activity, or flow value of GDP, at less than 70% of the level that would have pertained in the absence of the pandemic, or a greater than 30% decline in the flow rate of GDP (Arndt et al 2020). If we accept a 17% reduction as the average flow rate of GDP over the quarter and we accept that the economic shock related to COVID-19 was unprecedently rapid and drove a decline in the flow value of GDP of much more than 17% at the trough (which probably occurred sometime in late April or early May), then we must also accept a rapid recovery in economic activity in May and June in order to achieve an average decline of 17% over the quarter. Furthermore, this relatively rapid recovery continued. GDP in the third quarter of 2020 was “only” about 6% below the levels recorded for the third quarter of 2019, with the corresponding figure for the fourth quarter at about 4%. Other figures, including recent ones, broadly support this basic story. For example, retail sales in February 2021 were up 2.4% year-on-year, with the previous two months, January and December, having registered only a slight decline year-on-year. Correspondingly, manufacturing production and sales were down by 2.1% in February 2021 year-on-year. A few broad observations emerge from this history and the available data. First, the South African economy has exhibited more resilience to the COVID-19 shock than performance up to December 2019 might have led one to expect. In Mexico, for example, the distance between fourth quarter GDP in 2020 and that in 2019 was greater than for the same comparison in South Africa. At the same time, Mexico registered close to twice as many deaths related to COVID-19 per million population as South Africa. Second, multiplier effects are important. As discussed in Arndt et al (2020), multiplier effects accounted for the bulk of the initial economic contraction. However, they also operate positively, buoying the recovery experienced to date and bringing economic activity back towards the levels of 2019. Third, while having GDP about 4% down year-on-year is much better than the 17% decline observed in the second quarter, 4% down is still a deep recession by ordinary standards. While some sectors are producing at close to levels observed in the fourth quarter of 2019, others are more strongly affected. The incidence of these depressed levels of economic activity remains likely to be tilted toward lower-income households, which are more vulnerable to begin with. Overall, there remains substantial slack in the economy, multiplier effects still apply, and many households remain deeply vulnerable to severe economic hardship.
Book Synopsis The Future of the South African Political Economy Post-COVID 19 by : Mzukisi Qobo
Download or read book The Future of the South African Political Economy Post-COVID 19 written by Mzukisi Qobo and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the COVID-19 pandemic through socioeconomic lens that draw on history, approaches to state-market relations, and public policy perspectives In 2020, the world experienced the worst pandemic since the outbreak of the Spanish Flu of 1918, which continues to have far[1]reaching implications for the global economy and triggered macro-economic dislocations that severely affected the most vulnerable countries and segments of society. This book was conceived as a response to the disruptive shifts induced by the pandemic, with a particular focus on South Africa. International experience has shown that countries and societies that have gone through tough economic times, either as a consequence of wars or economic depressions, have responded to crises by enacting unpopular policy measures based on difficult tradeoffs, which often made way for innovation. The authors outline policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis and propose several interventions to mitigate its effects. These include developing innovative approaches to fiscal and monetary policies, labour market policies, industrial policies, as well as social policies. Building state capabilities, improving the governance and performance of state institutions, and managing digital change are some of the clear policy interventions that are laid out in this book.
Book Synopsis Covid-19 and the Informal Economy by : Jürgen Schwettmann
Download or read book Covid-19 and the Informal Economy written by Jürgen Schwettmann and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis The Political Economy of Post-COVID Life and Work in the Global South: Pandemic and Precarity by : Sandya Hewamanne
Download or read book The Political Economy of Post-COVID Life and Work in the Global South: Pandemic and Precarity written by Sandya Hewamanne and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume highlights cascading effects of the pandemic and lockdown on informal economies of varied countries in the Global South. Uneven development after colonization, imperialism, and externally influenced conflict have caused many countries in the formally colonized or semi-occupied countries in the world to lag behind in wealth accumulation, investments in manufacturing, and technology. The fact that these countries were dragged into world market dynamics on an equal footing with already developed countries exacerbated these inequalities and saw the rapid burgeoning of informal economies. COVID-19 and the lockdown of western countries unravelled global production chains, resulting in hordes of workers in the Global South losing their livelihoods. Even people engaged in traditionally locally-bound economic activities, such as domestic work and sex work, found their livelihoods disappear. This volume brings together case studies from India, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka to analyze global economic disruptions as they affected informal sector workers who were already largely invisible within state development policies. The chapters question whether existing models of neoliberal development are still conducive within the post-pandemic Global South as it grapples with rebuilding economies, livelihoods, institutions, and systems of governance.
Book Synopsis The South African Informal Sector by : Frederick C. v. N. Fourie
Download or read book The South African Informal Sector written by Frederick C. v. N. Fourie and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Although South Africa's informal sector is small compared to other developing countries, it nevertheless provides livelihoods, employment and income for millions of workers and business owners. Almost half of informal-sector workers work in firms with employees. The annual entry of new enterprises is quite high, as is the number of informal enterprises that grow their employment. There is no shortage of entrepreneurship and desire to grow. However, obstacles and constraints cause hardship and failure, pointing to the need for well-designed policies to enable and support the sector, rather than suppress it. The same goes for formalisation. Recognising the informal sector as an integral part of the economy, rather than ignoring it, is a crucial first step towards instituting a 'smart' policy approach. The South African Informal Sector is strongly evidence- and data-driven, with substantial quantitative contributions combined with qualitative findings--suitable for an era of increased pressure for evidence-based policy-making--and utilises several disciplinary perspectives."--
Book Synopsis Gendered Perspectives on Covid-19 Recovery in Africa by : Ogechi Adeola
Download or read book Gendered Perspectives on Covid-19 Recovery in Africa written by Ogechi Adeola and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-03 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the political, social, and economic connections between gender and the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors offer innovative ideas for recovery that will build a more prosperous, healthy, equitable, and sustainable future for African women and girls, targets identified under Goal 5 (Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals slated to be achieved by 2030. Within this context, authors identify issues related to the protection of women and girls from poverty, hunger, and gender-based violence; improved healthcare and healthcare workforce experiences; girl-child education; financial inclusion; and entrepreneurship opportunities for women in fintech, tourism, and information, communication and technology (ICT). The book concludes with a discussion of economic empowerment for women that focuses on normalising the ‘un-normal’ outcome of the pandemic. The book will be of value to policymakers, non-profit organisations, practitioners, and scholars who understand the importance of gender equality and women empowerment in the African continent.
Book Synopsis Governance Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa by : Nirmala Dorasamy
Download or read book Governance Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa written by Nirmala Dorasamy and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents insights into the governance challenge associated with the management of the lockdown measures in relation to the welfare of citizens in selected African states. The intention of the project is to present a critical analysis of the effectiveness and the consequences of the measures adopted by the government of these African countries to contain further spread of the virus, within the context of existing governance challenges in the management of the public sector. This will expose the contradictions in the implementation of public policy and the actualization of its intendment for the promotion of good governance and the welfare of citizens. The benefit thereof is the feasibility of arousing further intellectual engagements on the need for effective management of public sector with strong infrastructural support for the good of all in Africa.
Book Synopsis A Tale of Africa Today by : Pierre Nguimkeu
Download or read book A Tale of Africa Today written by Pierre Nguimkeu and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), more than 80 percent of workers find their livelihoods in the informal sector. They are artisans and shop owners, fishers and divers, tailors and weavers, truck drivers and market sellers, among many other informal jobs. In the era of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, saving lives and protecting livelihoods are both deeply challenging in SSA countries with high informality and almost no social protection. Informal workers and their families are most vulnerable to the disease, as they toil in crowded bazaars and busy streets. Moreover, informal workers are typically poor and cannot stockpile food or cash for a long lockdown. Strict containment measures directly jeopardize their income, their livelihoods, and their lives. The analysis confirms that higher rates of informal employment (as a fraction of total employment) are associated with higher rates of COVID-19 infection or disease spread. Not surprisingly, countries with relatively larger populations are also more likely to experience higher rates of infection. Given the adverse socioeconomic effects of COVID-19 containment on informal businesses and workers lacking social protection, countries should take proactive steps to curb the spread of infections, treat affected people, and at the same time provide social safety nets and economic relief for informal workers and businesses.
Book Synopsis Covid-19 in Africa: Societal and Economic Implications by : Susan Arndt
Download or read book Covid-19 in Africa: Societal and Economic Implications written by Susan Arndt and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-12-16 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this edited volume draws on the expertise of social scientists and humanities scholars to understand the many ramifications of Covid-19 on societies, politics, and the economies of Africa. The contributors examine measures, communicative practices, and experiences that have guided the (inter)action of governments, societies, and citizens in this unpredictable moment. Covid-19 tested governments’ disaster preparedness as well as exposed governments’ attitudes towards the poor and vulnerable. In the same vein, it also tested the agency of the African populace in the face of containment measures and their impact on everyday social, cultural, and economic practices of ordinary people. In this vein, our concern is to understand the relationship between growing vulnerability on the one hand, and ingenuity of agency on the other, and how both were embodied, narrated and discoursed by the African poor, university students, religious entities, middle-classes, and those who bore the major brunt of the lockdowns. The volume is thus a useful resource for scholars of Africa, policy makers and those who want to understand Covid-19 in Africa. It provides a multiplicity of perspectives of the pandemic and African responses at different levels of society, economy and the political spectrum. The continental focus of this volume gives room for broader comparative analyses. Lastly, this interdisciplinary work benefits from the input of medical historians, anthropologists, sociologists, linguists, political scientists, literature scholars, urban planners, geographers and others.
Book Synopsis The Informal Economy Revisited by : Martha Chen
Download or read book The Informal Economy Revisited written by Martha Chen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy as well as future challenges and directions for research and policy. Well over half of the global workforce and the vast majority of the workforce in developing countries work in the informal economy, and in countries around the world new forms of informal employment are emerging. Yet the informal workforce is not well understood, remains undervalued and is widely stigmatised. Contributors to the volume bridge a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, development economics, law, political science, social policy, sociology, statistics, urban planning and design. The Informal Economy Revisited also focuses on specific groups of informal workers, including home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers, to provide a grounded insight into disciplinary debates. Ultimately, the book calls for a paradigm shift in how the informal economy is perceived to reflect the realities of informal work in the Global South, as well as the informal practices of the state and capital, not just labour. The Informal Economy Revisited is the culmination of 20 years of pioneering work by WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), a global network of researchers, development practitioners and organisations of informal workers in 90 countries. Researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and advocates will all find this book an invaluable guide to the significance and complexities of the informal economy, and its role in today’s globalised economy. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429200724, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
Book Synopsis COVID-19 prevention measures in Ethiopia: Current realities and prospects by : Baye, Kaleab
Download or read book COVID-19 prevention measures in Ethiopia: Current realities and prospects written by Baye, Kaleab and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immediately after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Ethiopia in March 2020, the Government of Ethiopia took several public health measures to prevent increased levels of infection These included closing all schools and restricting large gatherings and movements of people. Hand-washing and social distancing were the main prevention measures that government has communicated to the general public through various media platforms. Using the latest round of the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, COVID-19 relevant indicators related to household access to communication platforms; access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and characteristics of the home environment were assessed. The analysis shows that a sizeable proportion of the rural population does not have access to the media platforms used to publicize COVID-19 prevention measures. Moreover, without aggressive interventions, current levels of access to water and soap are suboptimal to adopt the hand-washing recommendations, particularly in rural areas. The low proportion of households with electricity, refrigeration, or internet connection and the relatively high prevalence of partner violence suggest that implementing the stay and work from home measures will be challenging. Public health measures that slow down the transmission of the virus should be continued and efforts to prevent transmission to rural areas should be prioritized. Communication platforms and messaging will need to be adapted to different local realities to make any COVID-19 containment recommendations operational. WASH-related support should be ramped-up, and addressing barriers to staying at home, such as the risk of partner violence, should be considered. The efforts needed to end the current pandemic in Ethiopia, as well as similar pandemics in the future, illuminates the serious challenges related to WASH and to the inequalities between rural and urban areas that need urgent attention.
Download or read book Slum Health written by Jason Corburn and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban slum dwellers—especially in emerging-economy countries—are often poor, live in squalor, and suffer unnecessarily from disease, disability, premature death, and reduced life expectancy. Yet living in a city can and should be healthy. Slum Health exposes how and why slums can be unhealthy; reveals that not all slums are equal in terms of the hazards and health issues faced by residents; and suggests how slum dwellers, scientists, and social movements can come together to make slum life safer, more just, and healthier. Editors Jason Corburn and Lee Riley argue that valuing both new biologic and “street” science—professional and lay knowledge—is crucial for improving the well-being of the millions of urban poor living in slums.
