The re-employed are not faring well
A recent CPD-Oxfam survey on 2,600 households from 16 districts has painted a grim picture of the pandemic's effect on people's incomes and livelihoods. The survey found that more than 60 percent of the respondents had lost their jobs at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year in April-May. On average, it took them 95 days to find new jobs but almost all of them returned to the workforce by February of this year, which is of course a positive development. Yet, the survey also found that 78 percent of the households had reduced their expenditure and more than half had to resort to changes in their diets (e.g. cutting down on protein consumption).
On top of this is the disheartening news that only 20 percent of the households had received any form of support from the government, and most had lived on charity from friends, relatives, and private organisations. The average income of individuals had also reduced by around 12 percent, and more people had been pushed into the lower-income category with income inequality also rising. It was also seen that some groups suffered worse than others, such as the tea garden workers, victims of river erosion, tribal people, the "untouchables", char and haor dwellers, and floating workers in Dhaka city.
According to the CPD's Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, the government needs to come up with a framework spanning two to three years and a core budget to properly recover from the pandemic, and that the one-year time frame is not enough. He also pointed out the "state of reluctance and denial" of policymakers when it came to determining a strategy to help the country out of a "virus-induced downturn". Though many of the surveyed individuals have found jobs again, they have not been compensated for the losses they suffered during unemployment. And now, they are also having to go through worsened standards of living by eating less or by pulling their children out of school.
No doubt, recovering from the virus itself should be our main priority as a nation. We have to limit its spread and it must be ensured that the majority of the population is inoculated as early as possible. However, we would urge the government to also have more foresight when it comes to developing plans for the future that will affect the people's livelihoods. Those who require government assistance must be recognised and helped urgently so that they do not fall into further poverty.
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