What We Had Missed about Work During COVID-19 in Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic was more than just a global health emergency; it was a profound economic shock that disrupted lives and deepened long-standing inequalities. In Nigeria, the crisis hit households still recovering from the 2016 recession, struggling with high unemployment and relying mostly on informal jobs. While the virus affected everyone, its economic impact was far from equal, particularly gender-wise, as our research reveals.

The Problem with the "Tallest Trees"

At first glance, the economic damage seemed predictable. Jobs were lost, and incomes fell. But previous studies of the COVID-19 impact on the Nigerian labour market missed a crucial part of the story, as they mostly followed the experience of one person per household, the main respondent of the surveys, predominantly male household heads (84% of the cases).

In many Nigerian households, the main respondent was often the most economically secure household member, holding more stable jobs, higher earnings, or better working conditions before the pandemic. When researchers focus only on them, the effects of the COVID pandemic can look shorter and milder to recover from than they were. It was like trying to understand how a whole forest is doing by only looking at the tallest trees.

To find the real story, we looked beyond the person at the head of the table. We tracked the employment of 1,682 individuals, including women and young adults, over the pandemic, and we discovered a grimmer reality. The pandemic’s impact was deeper and lasted much longer than previously thought. And it did not affect everyone equally.

For women, the pandemic was not just a temporary interruption. While employment levels dropped for the overall population, women experienced a much sharper reduction and a significantly slower recovery than men. By September 2020, women were significantly less likely to be working than men, and even two years after the initial outbreak, that gap had not fully closed. This disparity even reached inside the home: in households where both partners worked before the pandemic, women were more likely to stop working than their husbands.

Not all women were affected in the same way. Some faced a “double hit” of disadvantage. Three groups were hardest hit:  (1) Young women, whose jobs are often the first to disappear during economic crisis, as they have less experience; (2) Women from the poorest households before the crisis faced the most substantial job losses; and (3) Women living in households with school-age children, in a society where caregiving responsibilities fall largely on women, staying at home looking after children, often meant stepping away from paid work. The pandemic did not create these norms; yet it exposed how unequal they already were.

The structure of the Nigerian labor market made matters worse and placed women at risk. Self-employed individuals, i.e., those running household businesses, were more likely to lose their work than those in salaried positions. Because the vast majority of Nigerian women (87% before the pandemic) were self-employed, they were positioned in the most vulnerable segment of the labor market. What looked like flexibility before the crisis became a source of insecurity and uncertainty once it began.

Looking Forward: Policy for a Fairer Recovery

Recovery policies cannot assume everyone experienced the crisis in the same way. One-size-fits-all solutions risk leaving the most affected behind. Instead, we need targeted support, including: (1) Childcare support to allow mothers to return or move to gainful work, (2) Skills development, specifically for young women to help them move into stable sectors, and (3) Cash transfers to provide a buffer for the most vulnerable families.

All in all, the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a reminder that effective policies depend on accurate representation. We must first ensure our data reflects the reality of all those affected, not just the person at the head of the table.

This blog is based on the paper "The Gender Inequality Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Nigerian Labour Market," published in September 2025 and recently selected as an Editor’s Choice article in the January 2026 issue of the Journal of African Economies. You can read the full study by Ana Karen Díaz Méndez and Bruno Martorano here.

Citation:

Ana Karen Díaz Méndez, Bruno Martorano, The Gender Inequality Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Nigerian Labour Market, Journal of African Economies, 2025; ejaf006, https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejaf006