A Snapshot of the Crisis of COVID-19: Estimate of the Employment Impact Due to Lockdowns in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

When coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a national health crisis, the local government of the Cagayan de Oro City (CDOC) did not implement total lockdown. The COVID-19 Adjustment Measure Program adopted by the local government probably affected the April 2020 Labor Force Survey that showed that Region 10 posted an employment rate of 88.9%, which is higher than the national average of 82.3% (Department of Labor and Employment, Region Office No. X (DOLE-X). NorMin secures highest employment rate amid COVID 19. 2020. Available from: https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1044898 [Accessed 9th May 2021]). Despite the regional figure being 6.6 percentage points higher than the national one, there is a decrease in employed persons by around 400,000 from 2.302 million persons employed in April 2019 to 1.883 million in April 2020 (Department of Labor and Employment, Region Office No. X (DOLE-X). NorMin secures highest employment rate amid COVID 19. 2020. Available from: https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1044898 [Accessed 9th May 2021]). Hence, the study determines the effect of COVID-19 protective measures implemented by the government on the economy of CDOC. Using the barangay-level and selected sectoral-level data on business registration, and employment data between 2010 and 2019, the study estimates that one-week lockdown means a [Formula: see text] 1,825 loss of income for a minimum-wage employee. One-month lockdown costs [Formula: see text]7,300 foregone income, while one-quarter lockdown (or a half of six months) is equivalent to [Formula: see text]21,900 income loss. We recommend 10 policy interventions, but the government should also think big and invest its resources into programs that create a multiplier effect on the economy. Multipliers are interventions that create ripples or positive impacts on other sectors and/or economic participants.

The rise in youth employment? Impact evaluation of COVID-19 consequences

The COVID-19 pandemic has significant consequences in many areas and has largely contributed to rising unemployment in almost all countries. The situation is similar in Slovakia, where various degrees of shut-down measures have caused an inflow of newly unemployed people in all age groups. This article focuses on unemployed youth as a vulnerable and disadvantaged group of the working population, as starting a career during a pandemic is complicated or even impossible in some industries under these conditions. In this study, the real situation in Slovakia in 2020-2021 is compared with the development of the job market before the pandemic. The main contribution of the study is the quantification of the extent of the pandemic impact on unemployed youth, but also on other age groups; this evaluation can be considered very accurate given the counterfactual approach used. The results of this study can be used in practice to identify the most affected groups of the population and to implement policy measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic, and then to adjust the intensity and amount of allocated funds that will be needed to be spent to support the placement of young people into the labor market.

Powering jobs: the employment footprint of clean cooking solutions in Kenya

Background The delivery of clean cooking access to the 1.2 billion people who cook with charcoal, kerosene, and firewood may have a strong localized employment impact. With the challenge of a rapidly expanding youth population and growing job scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa, understanding the impact of clean cooking on employment as well as the skills gap is timely. However, there is little definitive data on clean cooking jobs. Recognizing this data gap, we sought to conduct a study focused specifically on employment from the clean cooking sectors in Kenya, covering liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), bioethanol, biogas, and electric cooking solutions. This study provides an initial baseline and early estimate of the clean cooking sector's direct formal and informal employment based on one year of company survey data, expert interviews, available literature, and local focus group discussion. Results In Kenya, the clean cooking sector is estimated to provide about 19,000 direct, formal jobs and potentially 15,000 to 35,000 direct, informal jobs in 2019. While the clean cooking sector provided many jobs, the level of compensation and retention is low. In the LPG and electric cooking sector, sales and distribution are the biggest part of the workforce, while for bioethanol and biogas, manufacturing and assembling is dominant. The majority of the clean cooking sector's direct, formal workforce is reported to be skilled. Management, finance and legal, and product development and research are the most difficult skills to recruit for. Women’s participation is lower than 30% in the clean cooking sectors studied, and managerial positions have higher women’s participation than non-managerial ones. Conclusion This research exercise establishes a baseline for understanding the employment impact of the clean cooking sectors. However, a massive data gap persists. Our study shows that while clean cooking sectors, especially LPG, are already providing tens of thousands of jobs, further studies are critically needed to map the employment impact of delivering universal clean cooking access.

Analysing the employment impact of Sunday wage premiums reductions: Implications for minimum wage research

This article tests the employment impact of recent reductions in Australian wage premiums, or penalty rates, using surveys of 1828 employees and 236 employers in Retail and Hospitality sectors. In applying wage premium reductions for Sunday work, the national regulator, the Fair Work Commission, anticipated improvements in trading hours, employment and hours worked as a consequence. However, the authors found no statistically significant evidence for these predictions. Nor did difference-in-differences methods indicate substitution of workers subject to cuts for those who were exempt. The authors present the first systematic purpose-designed empirical evidence on the employment impact of wage premiums. In the absence of empirical evidence, the regulator had referred substantially to minimum wage research. This study also has implications for minimum wage research, and contributes to it with a novel methodology examining both aggregate hours and employment, comparing those subject to cuts with those not, and surveying both employees and employers.

Distributed education enables distributed economic impact: the economic contribution of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to communities in Canada

Background Medical schools with distributed or regional programs encourage people to live, work, and learn in communities that may be economically challenged. Local spending by the program, staff, teachers, and students has a local economic impact. Although the economic impact of DME has been estimated for nations and sub-national regions, the community-specific impact is often unknown. Communities that contribute to the success of DME have an interest in knowing the local economic impact of this participation. To provide this information, we estimated the economic impact of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) on selected communities in the historically medically underserviced and economically disadvantaged Northern Ontario region. Methods Economic impact was estimated by a cash-flow local economic model. Detailed data on program and learner spending were obtained for Northern Ontario communities. We included spending on NOSM’s distributed education and research programs, medical residents’ salary program, the clinical teachers’ reimbursement program, and spending by learners. Economic impact was estimated from total spending in the community adjusted by an economic multiplier based on community population size, industry diversity, and propensity to spend locally. Community employment impact was also estimated. Results In 2019, direct program and learner spending in Northern Ontario totalled $64.6 M (million) Canadian Dollars. Approximately 76% ($49.1 M) was spent in the two largest population centres of 122,000 and 165,000 people, with 1–5% ($0.7 M – $3.1 M) spent in communities of 5000–78,000 people. In 2019, total economic impact in Northern Ontario was estimated to be $107 M, with an impact of $38 M and $36 M in the two largest population centres. The remaining $34 M (32%) of the economic impact occurred in smaller communities or within the region. Expressed alternatively as employment impact, the 404 full time equivalent (FTE) positions supported an additional 298 FTE positions in Northern Ontario. NOSM-trained physicians practising in the region added an economic impact of $88 M. Conclusions By establishing programs and bringing people to Northern Ontario communities, NOSM added local spending and knowledge-based economic activity to a predominantly resource-based economy. In an economically deprived region, distributed medical education enabled distributed economic impact.

Impact of Demonetization on Employment in India: Issues and Challenges of Labour Market

Demonetization is a conventional practice in monetary policy to embark upon black money. However, it was meant to be suddenly implemented. Long-ago, demonetization has taken place twice but it failed because the idea is to tackle the black money existing in circulation. This wasn’t for tackling corruption that’s what Government is not saying that 100% corruption will be tackled and also if announcement and time would have been given, this step might not have been successful in controlling black money and counterfeit currency in circulation coming from Pakistan, Nepal or other countries. Demonetization is a course of extraction of an exacting form of currency from circulation. The existing form of money has chosen from transmission and retired, to be put back with new notes or coins. The newest demonetization measures taken by the Indian Government on November 8th 2016, in an attempt to hold back corruption and black money has resulted in a massive amount of involuntary consequences. While the key objective following this budge is commendable, the planning and implementation of the scheme left much to be required from a policy point of view. This step has caused rolling impact throughout the economy, departing the most sectors reasonably crippled owing to the unanticipated cash crisis. The labour market in India has been witnessing numerous uncertainties including the problem of world recession, and growing ‘automation’ particularly in the manufacturing sector. More precisely, in the last one and a half decade, India has emerged a global power in terms of the development or diffusion of new technology in the form of ICT. ICT intensity, defined as the ratio of ICT investment to non ICT investment, has increased significantly across industries led to ‘automation’ in most production (and distribution). Its impact on productivity led growth, and direct employment is well documented. However, its negative employment impact, particularly in the ICT using manufacturing sector has largely been ignored. So, in a situation, when the debate, whether the net employment impact of ICT on the economy as a whole is positive, is still un-conclusive; any major policy change like ‘demonetization’ is likely to make the employment scenario further volatile by causing uncertainties to rise in labour market, mainly the informal employment.

Powering Jobs: The Employment Footprint of Clean Cooking Solutions in Kenya

Background: Delivering clean cooking access to 1.2 billion people who cook with charcoal, kerosene and firewood may have a strong localized employment impact. With the challenge of a rapidly expanding youth population and growing job scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa, understanding the impact of clean cooking on employment as well as the skills gap is timely. However, there is little definitive data on clean cooking jobs. Recognizing this data gap, we sought to conduct a study focused specifically on employment from the clean cooking sectors in Kenya, covering liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), bioethanol, biogas and electric cooking solutions. This study provides an initial baseline and early estimate of clean cooking sectors’ direct formal and informal employment based on one year of company survey data, expert interviews, available literature, and local focus group discussion.Results: In Kenya, the clean cooking sector provided about 19,000 direct, formal jobs and potentially 15,000 to 35,000 direct, informal jobs in 2019. While the clean cooking sector provided many jobs, the level of compensation and retention is low. In the LPG and electric cooking sector, sales and distribution are the biggest part of the workforce, while for bioethanol and biogas, manufacturing and assembling is important. The majority of the direct, formal workforce is reported to be skilled. Management, finance and legal, and product development and research are the most difficult skills to recruit for. Women’s participation is lower than 30% in the clean cooking sectors. Managerial positions have higher women’s participation than non-managerial ones.Conclusion: This research exercise establishes a baseline for understanding the employment impact of the clean cooking sectors. However, a massive data gap persists. Our study shows that while the clean cooking sectors, especially LPG, are already providing tens of thousands of jobs, further studies are critically needed to map the employment impact of delivering universal clean cooking access.