Impact on the Lives and Livelihoods of Factory Workers during COVID-19

This study analyses the impacts of COVID-19 on the lives and livelihoods of workers in
the garment, textile and footwear manufacturing in Cambodia, a sector which employed
approximately 800,000 people (80 percent of whom were female) and contributed about 70
percent to the country’s annual total export value prior to the pandemic. The analysis examines
potential disproportionate effects of the pandemic on women and men, focusing on earnings,
consumption and remittances, possible conflicts at home and workplace, mental health, coping
strategies and receipts of in-cash and in-kind assistance from the government, development
partners and non-governmental organisations. The study uses a dataset of 2,000 workers
surveyed by phone between 10 June and 18 July 2021. The phone survey was employed in
leu of the usual face-to-face interviews due to health and administrative restrictions by the
government to curb the transmission rate of the infection. The sampling design was a twostage
stratified random sample in which a representative number of factories and workers were
randomly chosen in the first and second stage, respectively.
In relation to the economic shock, the results show a significant loss of earnings, mainly
wages, before and during COVID-19. The loss ranged between 38.6 and 40.4 percent with
an average of 39.5 percent. Female respondents reported a higher loss of earnings than their
male counterparts (40.2:36.9 percent). There is no statistically significant impact on the loss
of earnings by age group and marital status, indicating that COVID-19 has affected earnings
of young or old and single or married workers in equal measure. Nonetheless, the economic
impacts were severe among workers who were laid off and suspended with an average loss
of wage earnings ranging between 38.8 percent and 58.8 percent. The loss of earnings had
spill-over effects on food and non-food consumption and remittances. Both female and male
respondents reported reduced food and non-food consumption and smaller remittances to
relatives in their hometowns (from USD103 to USD71 for female; from USD109 to USD83
for male). The respondents reported a 35.3 percent reduction in food consumption compared to
48.4 percent in non-food consumption. Female respondents reported a bigger cut in non-food
consumption than their male counterparts.
The COVID-19 pandemic increased the time spent on domestic and unpaid care work,
particularly among women. Household members spent more time at home, including children
due to school closures (subsidised by online classes) which contributed to the increase. Female
respondents saw a 56.4 percent increase in time taking care of children in comparison to before
and during COVID-19 compared to a 38.1 percent rise for male respondents. The results also
indicate that very few of the male respondents reported time taking care of children as a reason
for the increased time spent on domestic and unpaid care work during COVID-19, implying
that childcare is mainly a woman’s responsibility. The pandemic also affected mental health
and how the respondents viewed lives during the economic hardship. The average score of the
WHO-5 well-being indicators was below 50 (47.8), indicating pessimism of economic wellbeing.
The score for male respondents was significantly lower than that of females (29.5:52.5).
The respondents adopted several coping strategies to mitigate the negative shock of COVID-19,
the most common three were: i) loans from friends/relatives; ii) reduced food and non-food
consumption and, iii) receiving in-cash and in-kind assistance from the government and other
non-governmental organisations. Savings were also used, albeit only in 15 percent of cases.
There is no statistical difference of the use of coping strategies between female and male
respondents surveyed.  The government was quick to provide short-term cash support through its cash transfer program
to the workers. Approximately 6 out of 10 respondents (or their household members) reported
receiving cash support from the government since March 2020. The average monthly cash
receipt was USD43.1 (USD40.6-45.7). There is no difference in the amount of cash assistance
received between female and male respondents. That is, females received on average USD43.5
per month compared to USD42.3 for male.
We provide the following policy suggestions to the government and other relevant stakeholders.Continued assistance remains necessary to help mitigate the shock, particularly
for female workers who have more dependents (children and elders) living in the
household or in their hometown. Receiving government assistance was the third most
common coping strategy by the surveyed workers, indicating that the assistance could
provide immediate relief during the difficult time when other options were limited. Financial literacy, particularly on the use of loans and the importance of saving during
times of prosperity, should be considered. Although the respondents used savings
to mitigate the shock, only a few had the option because the majority of the survey
respondents did not save, or insufficiently did so, pre-pandemic. The program should
target both females and males. Targeting mechanisms should be considered a long-term action plan as it remains
challenging to identify beneficiaries for support. The results show that 39.2 percent
of the respondents did not receive government support, citing no knowledge of the
program. Re-skilling and up-skilling should remain a priority for workers in this sector. As
shown, the majority of the surveyed workers, currently employed, suspended or
terminated, had limited knowledge of the government’s existing programs to help
them obtain new or better skills. They were also unwilling to invest time and money
in the cause. Awareness raising among men on the shared responsibility of domestic and unpaid
care work (childcare and elders) should be done as most male respondents viewed
care work as a women’s responsibility.