Economic and Distributional Impacts of Covid-19 Economic Shocks on Women in Senegal

Abstract

Like other African countries, Senegal has been hit by Covid-19 and has implemented measures to contain the epidemic. These measures impact men and women differently, mainly via the impacts on the labour market. We simulate the economic shocks in a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the economic impacts. We capture the gendered impact on women’s employment by linking the CGE model with a micro-simulation employment module. Furthermore, we assess the impact on poverty and inequality by executing a distributive analysis with a sequential top-down layered micro-simulation households module. The results show that the Senegalese economy suffers from Covid-19 measures with a decrease in gross domestic product by 5% and 7% in the moderate and severe scenarios, respectively. While most sectors are negatively affected, some benefit from the increase in foreign demand (e.g., for certain agricultural products). In terms of employment, unskilled workers are the most affected group. Female workers are relatively less affected than male workers due to the predominant presence of women in the agricultural sectors. Indeed, the increased foreign demand for agricultural products positively affects the agricultural sectors. However, poverty increases at the national level for all households, especially for rural households and households living in urban areas except Dakar. Specifically, the poverty gap and severity for rural households increase more than for urban households.