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City of dreams no more: the impact of Covid-19 on urban workers in India

Author

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  • Shania Bhalotia
  • Swati Dhingra
  • Fjolla Kondirolli

Abstract

Many developing economies have large informal sectors and growing urban youth populations, who lack basic social protections at work. The CEP surveyed 8,500 workers aged 18 to 40 in urban India to understand their experiences at work during Covid-19. The survey was conducted between May and July 2020. As in many countries, unemployment increased dramatically. 15.5 percent of workers lost their jobs and 21.7 percent worked zero hours during the survey months. Unlike many developed and some developing economies, 52 percent of urban workers went without work or pay and received no financial assistance to tide over the crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Shania Bhalotia & Swati Dhingra & Fjolla Kondirolli, 2020. "City of dreams no more: the impact of Covid-19 on urban workers in India," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-008, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepcvd:cepcovid-19-008
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    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cepcovid-19-008.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. J. Vernon Henderson, 2010. "Cities And Development," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 515-540, February.
    2. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Tito Boeri & Giulia Giupponi & Alan B. Krueger & Stephen Machin, 2020. "Solo Self-Employment and Alternative Work Arrangements: A Cross-Country Perspective on the Changing Composition of Jobs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 170-195, Winter.
    4. World Bank, 2019. "World Development Report 2019 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2019]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 30435.
    5. Jack Blundell & Stephen Machin, 2020. "Self-employment in the Covid-19 crisis," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-003, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Brian Bell & Mihai Codreanu & Stephen Machin, 2020. "What can previous recessions tell us about the Covid-19 downturn?," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-007, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
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    Cited by:

    1. Drèze, Jean & Somanchi, Anmol, 2021. "The Covid-19 Crisis and People’s Right to Food," SocArXiv ybrmg, Center for Open Science.
    2. Swati Dhingra & Fjolla Kondirolli, 2021. "City of dreams no more, a year on: worklessness and active labour market policies in urban India," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-022, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Dhingra, Swati & Machin, Stephen, 2020. "The Crisis and Job Guarantees in Urban India," IZA Discussion Papers 13760, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Swati Dhingra & Fjolla Kondirolli, 2022. "Unemployment and labour market recovery policies," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 223-235, June.

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    Keywords

    India; urban workers; cities; growth; Covid-19;
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