Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/243353 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2021/27
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
In this paper, we provide causal evidence of the impact of stringent lockdown policies on labour market outcomes at both the extensive and intensive margins, using Ghana as a case study. We take advantage of a specific policy setting, in which strict stay-at-home orders were issued and enforced in two spatially delimited areas, bringing Ghana's major metropolitan centres to a standstill, while in the rest of the country less stringent regulations were in place. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that the three-week lockdown had a large and significant immediate negative impact on employment in the treated districts, particularly among workers in informal self-employment. While the gap in employment between the treated and control districts had narrowed four months after the lockdown was lifted, we detect a persistent nationwide impact on labour market outcomes, jeopardizing particularly the livelihoods of small business owners mainly operating in the informal economy.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
lockdown
employment
informal economy
Ghana
JEL: 
I18
J46
J63
O55
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-965-5
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-sa Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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