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. 2022 May 27;161(2):171–194. doi: 10.1111/ilr.12332

Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic and unpaid care work on informal workers' livelihoods

Ana Carolina OGANDO 1,✉, Michael ROGAN 2,3, Rachel MOUSSIÉ 1
PMCID: PMC8652843  PMID: 34898713

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic triggered a health, economic and care crisis affecting all workers, including those in the informal economy. This article uses data from the first round of a mixed‐methods longitudinal study conducted in June/July 2020 by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing in partnership with informal workers' organizations in 12 cities. It assesses the impacts of the multidimensional crisis on care responsibilities and the resulting effects on livelihoods and food security. A gendered analysis of paid work and unpaid care work sheds light on the unique features of the impacts of the current “pandemic recession” on the world's informal labour force.

Keywords: unpaid care work, gender, informal economy, livelihoods, COVID‐19, care economy

 

This article is based on the first round of the WIEGO‐led “COVID‐19 and the Informal Economy Study”. The authors would like to acknowledge the local partners in each study city – the local organizations of informal workers and the local research teams – as well as the informal workers who took part in the study. All of them participated willingly and fully despite the significant public health concerns and economic hardships they were experiencing. The authors would also like to acknowledge the generous support from Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

This article is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 161 (2), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 141 (2).

Contributor Information

Ana Carolina OGANDO, Email: anacarolina.ogando@wiego.org.

Michael ROGAN, Email: m.rogan@ru.ac.za.

Rachel MOUSSIÉ, Email: rachel.moussie@wiego.org.

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