Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/243391 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2021/65
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the gendered dimensions of employment and mental health among urban informal-sector workers in India. First, we find that men's employment declined by 84 percentage points post-pandemic relative to pre-pandemic, while their monthly earnings fell by 89 per cent relative to the baseline mean. In contrast, women did not experience any significant impact on employment post pandemic, as reported by their husbands. Second, we document very high levels of pandemic-induced mental stress, with wives reporting greater stress than husbands. Third, this gendered pattern in pandemic-induced mental stress is partly explained by men's employment losses, which affected wives more than husbands. In contrast, staying employed during the pandemic is associated with worse mental health for women and their (unemployed) husbands. Fourth, pre-existing social networks are associated with higher mental stress for women relative to men, possibly due to the 'home-based' nature of women's networks.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
informal sector
employment
mental health
social networks
gender
India
JEL: 
J16
J22
J23
O14
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9267-003-0
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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