Maldives Launched Its First Informal Sector Survey Report With Contributions From UNDP And MBS

On Monday, Maldives inaugurated the first ever Informal Sector Survey report conducted in the Maldives. Titled the Informal Sector Survey 2021: Rapid assessment of the impact of Covid-19 on informal sector, the report was undertaken by the Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) with technical support given by United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The survey trialed a sample of informal employment pre and post pandemic and observed the loss of employment and income in industries and in gender.
 
The survey found that women contributed a large proportion of the informal employment with 71% informal sector workers stating that their income has declined since the start of the pandemic. It is observed that women incurred the brunt of the pandemic more severely, with a greater number of women switching from the formal sector to the informal sector.
 
The survey findings also revealed the lack of employment and social security in the informal sector, which placed workers especially women, in a vulnerable position during the pandemic and aggravated their social and economic exposure. It highlighted that the government needs to put more emphasis on creating livelihood opportunities for women and provide a safety net that exceeds income. Furthermore, the report urged to take rapid, effective and sustainable actions to mitigate the detrimental effects of the pandemic on livelihoods of informal workers.
 
The Chief Statistician of MBS, Aishath Hassan remarked that the findings of the survey can lead to more effective policy making in the informal sector and can bring about fiscal policies in the coming future.

 
The report disclosed that income loss has been serious in all industries and noted that women were at a greater peril of not heading back to a previous employment. It also mentioned the obstacles of validating female-led enterprises such as lack of awareness of business and tax related processes and unable to commit due to pending family commitments.
 
The UNDP resident representative to the Maldives, Enrico Gaveglia stated UNDP hopes to help in the recovery effort of the Maldives, by directing policies to lessen the adverse effects of the pandemic on women and utilizing countercyclical measures to construct social protection in responding to a crisis.
 
The study suggested 4 main recommendations to policymakers to reshape the social and economic recovery efforts. The first recommendation was to build an informal sector monitoring mechanism and the second is to heighten social protection policies. The third suggestion was to implement measures to keep small and medium enterprises ongoing while retaining workers. The last and final recommendation was to make finance more accessible for the informal sector.
 
During the launching ceremony, UNDP also presented 20 tablets to the MBS to assist the digital data collection in the Census 2022.
 
The informal sector in the Maldives plays a vital role in providing employment in the Maldives. 19% of the population works in this sector particularly in the atoll and women.