Informal workers left to fend for themselves

That the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns have been difficult for the poor, especially the urban poor, should not come as a surprise to anyone. According to an estimate from the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), the countrywide shutdown last year caused an 80 percent drop in income of the labouring class in urban areas. A survey conducted by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and the Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) suggested that the economic shock induced by the pandemic has pushed a whopping 14.75 percent of the population into poverty in one year, with the urban poor (a large proportion of whom are informal workers) being hit the hardest.