The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on employment in the Maldives

Abstract

This publication was prepared on request of the Minister of Economic Development, Uz.Fayyaz Ismail. The main objective of the report is to analyse and document the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on employment in the Maldives. Although data used for the analysis was collected digitally through the JobCenter portal, the data was initially not classified to be able to use for an economic analysis. Therefore, the data was coded in accordance with the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), which took a lot of time and faced substantial challenges due to the unavailability of the information required for coding in some of the cases. Coding work was done by temporary staff hired for the income support program and ministry staff, with the guidance and supervision of Aishath Sajny (Consultant for Policy and Research Department). The report was produced by Aishath Sajny, Ali Nafees (Research Analyst for Trade, Investment and Employment) and Aminath Shaffana (Data Analyst of Policy and Research Department) under the guidance of State Minister Neeza Imad. Technical support contributions were made by Shuhad Ibrahim (Consultant for Trade and Investment; and Director for COVID-19 Emergency Income Support Program) and Niushad Saeed (Research Analyst for Trade, Investment and Employment).The team is grateful for all support received from the management in preparing this report.