This study analyses the impacts of COVID-19 on the lives and livelihoods of workers in
\nthe garment, textile and footwear manufacturing in Cambodia, a sector which employed
\napproximately 800,000 people (80 percent of whom were female) and contributed about 70
\npercent to the country\u2019s annual total export value prior to the pandemic. The analysis examines
\npotential disproportionate effects of the pandemic on women and men, focusing on earnings,
\nconsumption and remittances, possible conflicts at home and workplace, mental health, coping
\nstrategies and receipts of in-cash and in-kind assistance from the government, development
\npartners and non-governmental organisations. The study uses a dataset of 2,000 workers
\nsurveyed by phone between 10 June and 18 July 2021. The phone survey was employed in
\nleu of the usual face-to-face interviews due to health and administrative restrictions by the
\ngovernment to curb the transmission rate of the infection. The sampling design was a twostage
\nstratified random sample in which a representative number of factories and workers were
\nrandomly chosen in the first and second stage, respectively.
\nIn relation to the economic shock, the results show a significant loss of earnings, mainly
\nwages, before and during COVID-19. The loss ranged between 38.6 and 40.4 percent with
\nan average of 39.5 percent. Female respondents reported a higher loss of earnings than their
\nmale counterparts (40.2:36.9 percent). There is no statistically significant impact on the loss
\nof earnings by age group and marital status, indicating that COVID-19 has affected earnings
\nof young or old and single or married workers in equal measure. Nonetheless, the economic
\nimpacts were severe among workers who were laid off and suspended with an average loss
\nof wage earnings ranging between 38.8 percent and 58.8 percent. The loss of earnings had
\nspill-over effects on food and non-food consumption and remittances. Both female and male
\nrespondents reported reduced food and non-food consumption and smaller remittances to
\nrelatives in their hometowns (from USD103 to USD71 for female; from USD109 to USD83
\nfor male). The respondents reported a 35.3 percent reduction in food consumption compared to
\n48.4 percent in non-food consumption. Female respondents reported a bigger cut in non-food
\nconsumption than their male counterparts.
\nThe COVID-19 pandemic increased the time spent on domestic and unpaid care work,
\nparticularly among women. Household members spent more time at home, including children
\ndue to school closures (subsidised by online classes) which contributed to the increase. Female
\nrespondents saw a 56.4 percent increase in time taking care of children in comparison to before
\nand during COVID-19 compared to a 38.1 percent rise for male respondents. The results also
\nindicate that very few of the male respondents reported time taking care of children as a reason
\nfor the increased time spent on domestic and unpaid care work during COVID-19, implying
\nthat childcare is mainly a woman\u2019s responsibility. The pandemic also affected mental health
\nand how the respondents viewed lives during the economic hardship. The average score of the
\nWHO-5 well-being indicators was below 50 (47.8), indicating pessimism of economic wellbeing.
\nThe score for male respondents was significantly lower than that of females (29.5:52.5).
\nThe respondents adopted several coping strategies to mitigate the negative shock of COVID-19,
\nthe most common three were: i) loans from friends\/relatives; ii) reduced food and non-food
\nconsumption and, iii) receiving in-cash and in-kind assistance from the government and other
\nnon-governmental organisations. Savings were also used, albeit only in 15 percent of cases.
\nThere is no statistical difference of the use of coping strategies between female and male
\nrespondents surveyed.\u00a0 The government was quick to provide short-term cash support through its cash transfer program
\nto the workers. Approximately 6 out of 10 respondents (or their household members) reported
\nreceiving cash support from the government since March 2020. The average monthly cash
\nreceipt was USD43.1 (USD40.6-45.7). There is no difference in the amount of cash assistance
\nreceived between female and male respondents. That is, females received on average USD43.5
\nper month compared to USD42.3 for male.
\nWe provide the following policy suggestions to the government and other relevant stakeholders.Continued assistance remains necessary to help mitigate the shock, particularly
\nfor female workers who have more dependents (children and elders) living in the
\nhousehold or in their hometown. Receiving government assistance was the third most
\ncommon coping strategy by the surveyed workers, indicating that the assistance could
\nprovide 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
\ntimes of prosperity, should be considered. Although the respondents used savings
\nto mitigate the shock, only a few had the option because the majority of the survey
\nrespondents did not save, or insufficiently did so, pre-pandemic. The program should
\ntarget both females and males. Targeting mechanisms should be considered a long-term action plan as it remains
\nchallenging to identify beneficiaries for support. The results show that 39.2 percent
\nof the respondents did not receive government support, citing no knowledge of the
\nprogram. Re-skilling and up-skilling should remain a priority for workers in this sector. As
\nshown, the majority of the surveyed workers, currently employed, suspended or
\nterminated, had limited knowledge of the government\u2019s existing programs to help
\nthem obtain new or better skills. They were also unwilling to invest time and money
\nin the cause. Awareness raising among men on the shared responsibility of domestic and unpaid
\ncare work (childcare and elders) should be done as most male respondents viewed
\ncare work as a women\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33568","publications","type-publications","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n