Income and employment situation in COVID times: How the people are coping?

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has confronted Bangladesh with a multi-pronged crisis. The adverse impacts of the pandemic experienced in the form of health risks, humanitarian disasters and adverse economic implications have both short-term impacts as also medium to long-term ramifications at macro, meso and micro levels. Following the first detection of COVID-19 in March 2020, and in the backdrop of the upward trends in the number of infections and deaths in recent times, Bangladesh has experienced frequent stoppages and slowdown of economic activities with consequent heightened risks for lives and livelihoods. Many have lost jobs, and the income of a large number of people has come down significantly, not to speak of the emergency health situation that many families have to face. The adverse impacts of the pandemic will no doubt make the work on attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh, a challenge even under normal circumstances, even more challenging. With the large number of new poor joining the rank of the old poor, this task has become even harder.