Kathmandu: A recent survey has shown that 53 percent of people lost their jobs recently due to the Covid-19 crisis. The survey found that 50 percent of them lost jobs in the last 30 days.
According to a recent rapid survey conducted during the third week of May by Sharecast Initiative Nepal with support from UNICEF, 40 percent of them lost both jobs and income in the form of remittances, sales, and other activity they used as a source of additional income.
The survey that covered approximately 3,000 families with children stated that the job loss threatens to deteriorate further the socio-economic well-being of the children and their families.
“Most families may reduce food intake and essential expenses, including nutrition and education for children,” states the report.
Over the past year, UNICEF’s nationwide bi-monthly survey ‘Child and Family Tracker’ showed that over 60 percent of households with children experienced economic and livelihood losses in the first two months of initial lockdown.
Although most families with children were able to recover economically since then, 40 percent of them remained at risk of falling into poverty, according to the report.
The overall income distribution did not catch up to levels before lockdowns, the report states, adding that over 20 percent of the families had to reduce the quantity or change their children’s variety of food intake.
The study found that child labor reduced from 31 percent of households reporting that their children worked before lockdown to eight percent during the lockdown. However, children in over 30 percent of these households began working after the lockdown ended.
“This implies that while the lockdown contributed to a significant reduction in child labor, children are most likely to start work to help their families cope with the economic struggles,” according to the report.
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