Income and Employment Changes Under COVID-19 Lockdown: A Study of Urban Punjab

This article traces income and employment changes through various phases of the lockdown based on primary data It analyses the coping strategies of people in response to fall in their income The article reveals that there was a large drop in income and employment with the announcement of lockdown While there is some recovery with easing of the lockdown, the income at the time of survey is still substantially lower than its pre-lockdown level Casual labour households with the largest fall in income and employment are the most affected Income and employment losses are also higher among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Caste (OBC) households In the absence of any income, the households either had to live off their savings or had to borrow money for their basic needs With rapidly depleting savings, borrowing approached its limits, and with slow recovery of income, households may need substantial government assistance to save them from deprivation