Coronavirus: 90% workers lost income or jobs in lockdown

BY TOM BRIAN ANGURINI

A new household monitoring report by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has revealed that 90 per cent workers and companies experienced salary cuts or loss of jobs during the Covid-19 lockdown since March.
The report said 43 per cent of the respondents in the service sector were no longer working during the last week before the end of August 2020.

“Since the Covid-19 outbreak, 87 per cent of the households have reported reduced income or no earnings from at least one of their sources of livelihood,” the report says.

While releasing the report in Kampala yesterday, the UBOS executive director, Mr Chris Mukiza, said service, transport and commerce were the sectors most hit by the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, having lost the highest share of workers.
“41 per cent of the household could not sell their produce due to closure of weekly and monthly markets as well as travel restrictions,” he said.

He, however, said agriculture was the least affected with 93 per cent of the respondents in this sector saying they remained working despite the anti-Covid-19 restrictions.

Mr Mukiza noted that the share of farming households increased from 72 per cent in 2019 to 78 per cent in 2020 and only eight per cent of the livestock-keeping households reported that Covid-19 affected their livestock production activities.

The UBOS boss added that 19 per cent of people could not access medical treatment and 59 per cent had children attending remote learning.

The report also highlighted eight per cent of households that experienced severe food shortage and nine per cent of households had received food since March 2020 at national level while 29 per cent of the households reported facing increases in food prices.

The report says 76 of the respondents were worried about themselves or their immediate family members becoming seriously ill due to the coronavirus as 83 per cent reported dry cough to be a symptom of the pandemic.

Another 67 per cent of the respondents said they knew that fever was a Covid-19 symptom, 36 per cent named breathing difficulties as a symptom and 44 per cent believe coronavirus does not survive in warm weather.

Mr Usher Wilson Owera, the chairman general of National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU), said they had held a tripartite meeting with Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and employers and agreed not to lay off their workers during this Covid-19 outbreak.

“Those companies who do not comply with the memorandum of understanding signed during the tripartite meeting, would be reported to Ministry of Gender for action or sued in the industrial court,” he said.
He, however, added that those companies which were worst affected like the airlines were allowed to cut staff salaries and lay off some workers.

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