Impact of COVID 19 on Own Account Workers in Sri Lanka

Amidst of the lockdown during the first wave of COVID 19 in Sri Lanka, Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) conducted an online survey in order to understand the impact of COVID on the public. The survey covered 23 districts across all three languages accumulating 400+ respondents. This paper attempts to explore the impact of COVID on own-account workers (entrepreneurs). Statistical analysis was conducted across three components: economic impact, impact on care work and their perceptions.  The results indicate that own-account workers have been the most impacted of the COVID restrictions as opposed to other work types; managerial and professional. Apart from the heavy economic burden with loss of income and loss of jobs, the anxieties because of the lockdown had made a heavy toll on the entrepreneurs as opposed to other work types. In conclusion, given the higher loss of income in comparison to other work types, the government policies should focus more on this segment of the economy to ensure there exist a safety net that would not force them into poverty due to COVID restrictions.

http://arts.pdn.ac.lk/econ/piers2020/proceedings/PIERS2020-proceedings.pdf