Phone Surveys to Quickly Check on Living Standards

from Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Introduction

differs, depending on the institutional context, economic structure, and work schemes in place. It particularly affects tasks that cannot be carried out remotely or by less educated workers, youth, women, and the selfemployed (Adams-Prassl et al. 2020; Alon et al. 2020; Bartik et al. 2020; Blundell and Machin 2020; Cajner et al. 2020; Dingel and Neiman 2020; Mongey and Weinberg 2020; Montenovo et al. 2020; von Gaudecker et al. 2020). Other contributions (such as Alon et al. 2020) gauge the impact of COVID-19 on social norms and role models, especially in households with children, where a reallocation of duties within the household is very likely, with persistent effects on gender roles and the division of labor.

However, little evidence or data are available on the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries and economies. This chapter draws on Tunisia’s recent phone surveys to shed light on the impact of COVID-19 on households’ welfare during the pandemic, and particularly on the changes that occurred in the labor market—that is, employment losses and reduced labor income.5 In particular, it shows how the declining living standards reported by households are continuing, despite the reopening of the Tunisian economy following the lockdown. Key findings include the following:

• A sizable setback in living standards, especially for the most vulnerable (the bottom 40 percent of the consumption distribution).

• A decline in welfare for about half of the households compared with before the pandemic.

• A setback in labor income especially among the self-employed, with income still below prepandemic levels.

• Deterioration in living standards resulting from an increase in food prices and a fall in remittances.

This chapter begins with detailed information on the five rounds of household telephone surveys, the data collection process, and how that process overlaps with lockdown decisions. Next, the chapter looks at the key transmission channels of an aggregate shock such as COVID-19 on living standards, examines how living standards of households have changed during the pandemic, and suggests policy recommendations.