B2.2.2 Household Surveys Show That, on Average, 38 Percent of Services Workers Stopped Working in 2020

BOX 2.2 COVID-19’s Impact on the Services Sector (continued)

(such as financial services, ICT, and retail and wholesale trade) have been less affected, even though firms in these subsectors also reported declines in sales.

In the short run, the impacts have already been severe—affecting the economic livelihoods of many in the services sector (figure B2.2.2) and disproportionally affecting small businesses and women. Household surveys conducted by the World Bank and partners indicate that in 37 out of 41 countries, female respondents were more likely than male respondents to have stopped working.a The BPS data similarly indicate that women-led enterprises were likelier than those led by men to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects (Torres et al. 2021).

It will be hard to predict the long-term impacts of COVID-19, particularly on the most-affected services subsectors. The overall services sector’s dynamism in terms of entry and exit might contribute to its resilience. For many services, the start-up costs of setting up a firm are lower than for manufacturing firms, which might make it easier for the sector to bounce back when demand returns. In addition, the pandemic might also accelerate trends toward greater digitalization and remote delivery of services. These trends are further explored in chapter 3 (box 3.1).

FIGURE B2.2.2 Household Surveys Show That, on Average, 38 Percent of Services Workers Stopped Working in 2020

Share of services workers who stopped working in 2020, selected countries

BOL TUN NGA HNO PER SLV DOM COL ECU MEX GTM PRY SSD UGA CHL CRI ZMB ZME ETH IDN POL ROU MNG PNG MDG SLB LAO

0 10 11

18 18 17 22 22 22 24 24 26 29 34 34 36

45 44 43 43 50

20 30 40 Share of services workers (%) 50

East Asia and Pacific Latin America and the Caribbean Sub-Saharan Africa Middle East and North Africa

55 54 54

60 60 59 58 70

60 70

Europe and Central Asia 80

Source: Khamis et al. 2021, using labor market data from high-frequency phone surveys (HFPS). Note: HFPS data were collected April–December 2020 in 21 countries across regions and income groups by the World Bank and partner agencies. Household weights have been applied to account for sampling. Countries are labeled using ISO alpha-3 codes.

a. Data from Khamis et al. (2021) and the World Bank’s COVID-19 High-Frequency Monitoring Dashboard, an online dataset: https://www.worldbank.org/en/data/interactive/2020/11/11/covid-19-high-frequency-monitoring-dashboard.