Out of the total population of the country, 37 percent or 20.63 millionPakistanis lost their jobs due to the closure of business owing to COVID-19lockdowns, while 12 percent experienced reductions in incomes.
Another 6.7 million people saw a reduction in their income due to theeconomic pressures of the pandemic.
This was revealed by a special survey for evaluating the socio-economicimpact of COVID-19 on the wellbeing of people conducted by the PakistanBureau of Statistics (PBS).
The data was collected electronically through tablets from 500 primarysampling units (PSUs) with 70 percent urban and 30 percent rural share,from October 20, 2020, to November 5, 2020. The final results were preparedwithin one month of data collection.——————————
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The survey found that almost half of the working population was badlyaffected due to the closure of business and lockdown, owing to COVID-19.
The daily wagers, most of which are construction workers along with othercasual workers and workers who worked of their accords like shop keepers,street vendors, and taxi drivers, were among the most affected population.
The PBS survey reveals that 74 percent of the affectees relate to theinformal sector and thus were most vulnerable to these kinds of shocks.
In terms of the industrial spread of the COVID-19 effects, the surveyshowed that manufacturing, construction, transport, and storage wholesaleand retail trade segments were the four most affected industries in termsof jobs lost.
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The construction sector was the worst hit among these four, as almost 80percent of workers in this segment either lost their jobs or saw areduction in their income. Second in the line were the workers of themanufacturing sector, where 72 percent of workers faced either job loss ora decrease in income.
Together these two sectors took 46 percent of the total shock in theeconomy. This is also the reason that reopening of these sectorsimmediately after the COVID-19 period (April- July), tangible relief to theeconomy was seen.
Provincial distribution of the pandemic impacts shows Khyber Pakhtunkhwawith the highest instance of income reduction, with 64 percent of peopleseeing their income go down. Households in Sindh are the second mostaffected with 59 percent, followed by Balochistan with 51 percent, andPunjab with 49 percent.——————————
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Food insecurity also climbed up to 10 percent during the COVID-19 period,up from 3 percent in pre-pandemic time.
The strategy-analysis as adapted by the people to cope with the situationrevealed that the highest percentage of people (54 percent) reducednon-food expenditure (i.e., clothing, footwear, health, etc.) followed by50 percent reducing food expenses (either switching to lower quality orreducing the quantity) and 47 percent households using theirsavings/investments/property to tackle the situation. 12 percent peoplealso reported having delayed the payment of already taken loans.
On the lines of households receiving assistance, the survey revealed that33 percent of the households (approximately 17 million households) receivedassistance during the COVID-19 period.
