COVID-19 Induced Income Loss among Migrant Workers: Evidence from Eight Villages of Bihar

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis re-shaped many livelihood options and placed significant burdens on those with precarious incomes exacerbating persisting vulnerabilities, especially among a large section of the migrant population. This group faced a dual threat – both to their livelihood and health. To understand the consequences of this pandemic on the income of the migrant population, a household level survey was conducted in the state of Bihar, India, which is one of the highest migrant-sending states. We examine the role of differences in the socio-economic status of migrants and their households in determining the extent of vulnerability caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Vulnerability is proxied by the income lost by migrants during the lockdown. The results suggest that households with diversified income portfolio, larger landholdings, and those receiving government benefits suffered significantly lower income loss whereas, larger household size and greater distance from town tended to escalate income loss. Additionally, private salaried workers faced higher income loss and an increment in years of education lowers the losses significantly. It is observed that individual-level characteristics also played a significant role in determining economic loss due to the lockdown. Our findings suggest a binding necessity to actively shape policies considering the financial insecurity of vulnerable migrants at their destination and the household members at the origin.