Labor Market, Income Loss and Domestic Production in the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the project, it is aimed to determine the changes in the labor situation of individuals due to the epidemic, the losses in household incomes and the changes in both the level of domestic production and the division of labor within the household. According to the survey (HCOVIDA) data applied in the project, average personal incomes decreased by 4.5 percent from February to September. It is observed that income losses are disproportionately concentrated in middle and lower income groups. Almost one-third of people with wage income and four out of ten self-employed people report a decrease in their income. HCOVIDA data indicate that the protection network opened by social transfers and inter-household transfers is insufficient in the epidemic. The rate of those who declared that they had difficulty in living during the epidemic reached 70 percent, and the rate of those who declared that they had difficulty in meeting their food expenses reached 38 percent. The effects of the epidemic on the labor market in Turkey are quite severe. 15 percent of the participants declared that they either lost their job or had to close their business due to the epidemic. It is observed that domestic production generally increased during the epidemic. Despite a significant increase in the contribution of men to household production in married couples, women continued to engage in household duties at least as much as in the pre-pandemic period. The reason for the collapse in household incomes is the difficulties in accessing the income sources of the households and the decrease in the incomes obtained as a result of working for wages and self-employment. With the prolongation of the epidemic, it is necessary to prevent the short-term results of labor market regulations from turning into more permanent and structural problems by turning into medium-term results. In this context, redesigning the fight against informality can be an important opportunity. It is seen that the epidemic increased domestic production and tilted the division of labor in a direction that could be more egalitarian. Nevertheless, considering the fact that the burden of women in the sharing of household production has not decreased and the effects of the epidemic on the labor market are considered, policies that support the return of women to the labor force need to be regulated.