Effets de la COVID-19 sur le marché du travail en Afrique subsaharienne : analyse sous le prisme de l’informalité au Burkina Faso, Mali et Sénégal

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that has put a spotlight on sub-Saharan Africa?s socioeconomic challenges. This paper presents real-time survey evidence on the labor market effects of COVID-19 in Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso based on data collected during the April?May 2020 lockdowns, at the time when restrictions were the strictest in those countries. 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 a decrease in earnings. These findings also hold for those who work in high-risk sectors. Informal workers also 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. Codes JEL: J46, J63, O17, O55.