Research reveals black women carrying biggest socio-economic burden of Covid-19 crisis in SA

A study by Rhodes University’s Professor Michael Rogan, in collaboration with University of Cape Town’s Caroline Skinner of the African Centre for Cities on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the informal economy, has found that the typical earnings for women in informal self-employment decreased by nearly 70% between February and April 2020.

Rogan said: “Women should be better supported as they were the most vulnerable and the most severely affected group during the Covid-19 outbreak.”

The national lockdown implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19 has resulted in job losses, which motivated the study titled ‘The Covid-19 crisis and the impact on South Africa’s Informal Economy’.

“Around March and April, it was clear that we did not have much data on the impact Covid-19 would have on households and the labour market in South Africa. A project to collect non-medical data on the impact of the pandemic was initiated by researchers from Stellenbosch University. I submitted a proposal for an analysis and policy paper on the impacts of the pandemic on the South African informal economy,” Rogan said.

The research uses the South African National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) data, a broadly national representative survey.

The survey team conducted telephonic interviews with more than 7,000 individuals between May and June 2020.

The questionnaire covered multiple themes, but since it was designed to not take more than 20 minutes of the respondents’ time, only a few employment-related questions were possible.

Despite the limited length of the survey, the NIDS-CRAM data allowed for the analysis of three groups of informal workers namely: the self-employed (in the informal sector), informal employees (both inside and outside of the informal sector), and casual workers.

It also allowed for important analysis by gender and, for those who did not lose their livelihoods entirely between February and April, for comparisons between formal and informal employment.

However, Prof Rogan said the data did not allow for the identification of total job losses in the informal economy between February and April, nor the impacts by industry or place of work (e.g. households).

Other key findings of the study include:

• Just under a third (31%) of informal workers who did not lose their livelihoods were completely ‘locked out’ of employment in April – compared with 26% of those in the formal employment sector.
• About 37% of the informally self-employed reported zero earnings in April.
• On average, for those who were informally employed in both February and April, average hours worked per week decreased by 32%.
• For the typical informal worker that was employed in both February and April, the hours worked per week decreased by as much as 50%.
• Women in the informal economy saw a decrease of 49% in the typical hours worked in April, while men in informal employment saw a 25% decrease in typical hours.

Nelson Mandela University’s Professor Nomalanga Mkhize said the research results were alarming.

“The picture painted by the research is very scary and it is not so much because of Covid-19 but it is because of the very bad socio-economic situation we live in. We need to learn from this because in the Eastern Cape we have young black men who are not given a chance to be part of a formal process to become responsible citizens of the country. The Covid-19 crisis has forced us to be locally intelligent so we can save people’s lives. We need localised targeted interventions that can support not just the local economy but the social fabric of the country,” she said.

She also emphasised that the pandemic exposed the damage to livelihoods people are facing on the ground.

“Whether there is a pandemic or not, there is a serious socio-economic crisis facing many unemployed people in South Africa. The government should look at making food parcels and the R350 Covid-19 relief aid permanent,” she added.

Professor Rogan recommended that as the most vulnerable and severely affected group during the pandemic, women should be supported as follows:

• the Child Support Grant allocation should be increased for each child;
• there must be an increase in the amounts of grants in line with international norms;
• the government must reframe the special Covid-19 grant. Two-thirds of the 2.7 million recipients (by end of June) were men;
• the government must reform its Unemployed Insurance Fund as very few domestic workers have received claims and;
• in the longer-term, the government needs rethink the role of the informal economy.

The research team also shared the findings of the study with government and engaged on issues of employment, hunger and food security.

The national departments of planning, monitoring and evaluation; Treasury, health and the national planning commission in the office of the presidency were part of the study.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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