Not All in This Together? Early Estimates of the Unequal Labour Market Effects of COVID-19

Recent studies have highlighted the unequal labour market effects of the COVID-19 crisis in advanced economies. We contribute to this literature by drawing on a new survey of almost 40,000 adults in 14 advanced as well as emerging economies conducted in August 2020. We show that while labour market impacts are, on average, more severe in emerging markets, these are less unequally distributed than in advanced economies. In line with the findings of existing studies for advanced economies, we document that job losses in emerging markets are also concentrated among the young, less educated and those with lower levels of income before the pandemic. However, we find that the likelihood of job losses falls less sharply with income in emerging markets than in advanced economies. Drawing on a similar survey conducted in 2010 we show that, unlike the Global Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 crisis disproportionately hit women. Job losses also appear to me more concentrated among the young now than during the Global Financial Crisis.