Rafael Ribas, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics, has completed a paper,“Examining persistent labour force transitions during the COVID-19 pandemic” for the International Labour Organization. The work will be included in the Handbook on Labour Market Transitions which is edited by the organization.
The paper examines the labor market transitions during the two years of COVID-19 pandemic in four developing countries: Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Vietnam. The research considers the conditions of each respective market prior to the pandemic, the response to contain the pandemic by each country and the effect on labor force participation. Research data shows that by the second half of 2022, labor force participation was still two to five percentage points below the pre-pandemic level. This persistent loss is found even in Vietnam, a country that applied more effective measures to contain the virus.