Income of poor long way from returning to pre-pandemic level
The income of the poor remains 42 per cent below the pre-pandemic levels although the economy reopened in June and activities recovered from the near-collapse for the coronavirus-caused shutdown.
The resumption has only modestly reversed the steep earnings drop in April and reduced the number of the crisis-caused "new poor" by 1.1 per cent to 21.7 per cent.
Food insecurity remains high as 11 per cent of the urban poor, including 15 per cent in Dhaka, do not get three meals a day. Nearly one-third of the poor had to cut consumption to cope with the crisis.
And 17 per cent of poor households were still out of work in June, found a new survey by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and BRAC Institute for Governance and Development (BIGD).
"Across the board, there is a broad-based pessimism and uncertainty on whether they would be able to go back to the past position. This is a fragile recovery," said PPRC Executive Director Hossain Zillur Rahman.
He was presenting the findings of the survey at a webinar organised by the two research organisations yesterday.
This was the second phase of the survey conducted among 7,638 households in an urban slum, rural and hill tracts areas between 20 June and 2 July by PPRC and BIGD.
The first round was conducted at the beginning of the shutdown in April to analyse the economic shocks faced by the poor and vulnerable people.
The survey found that the collapse of economic activities wiped out incomes in both rural and urban areas. The effect was deeper in the case of people living in urban areas.
Daily earning of the poor in urban areas was Tk 108 in February, before coronavirus arrived on these shores. The income per day dropped to Tk 27 in April. It recovered to Tk 67 in June, which is much below the poverty line income.
The study finds that house helps, unskilled and skilled workers, as well as small businesses, were the hardest hit. Factory workers, however, got some protection as only 10 per cent became unemployed.
"What we are seeing is the feminisation of joblessness. The impact on female employment is comparatively worse than that on male employment, even in sectors where both men and women workers are present," said BIGD Executive Director Imran Matin.
There is also informalisation of employment, he added.
To cope with reduced incomes, the poor increased their dependence on loans, in particular buying food and other items on credit from groceries, and cut consumption.
An increased portion of them also had to move out of the cities. This migration rose to 13 per cent in June from 6 per cent in April. This was 16 per cent for Dhaka alone.
"This is a big structural shift and its implications can be quite big," Matin said.
Researchers also looked into the support provided by the government, non-governmental organisations and individuals to help the poor and vulnerable tide over the devastating effects on their income and consumption.
Some 42 per cent of the non-poor were listed for support. Some 55 per cent of people in urban slums said their names were listed while a large number of the poor got listed but did not get the support afterwards, according to the survey.
Other than the problem of targeting, poor people also do not find the support to be a reliable source for coping, since the amount of support is insignificant, Matin said.
Only 16 per cent of the urban poor received an average of Tk 1,767. Juxtaposed with the respondents, this translates to an average of Tk 272 per respondent household.
"It means that the relief still is in token form," Rahman said.
The study said the poverty rate in Bangladesh currently stands at a staggering 42 per cent taking into account the new poor.
This remains a big concern, he said.
As the recovery remains fragile and pessimism runs high, researchers recommended taking measures to improve hygiene practices to restore confidence and revive the economy.
"People will try to work but they need a safe working environment for that. For gaining the self-confidence new national mood is needed," Rahman added.
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