ILO Country brief

Rapid Diagnostic Assessment of Employment Impacts under COVID-19 in Lebanon

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in Lebanon at a time when the country was grappling with its worst economic and financial crisis in decades. Lockdown measures have further hampered economic activity and left various groups of workers severely affected. These include informally employed and low wage workers, refugees and migrant domestic workers, along with those working as own-account, daily or weekly workers. In response, short-, medium- and long-term measures are required to address not only crisis-related challenges, but also the labour market’s pre-existing structural problems.

The analysis in this rapid assessment was conducted prior to the explosion that occurred at the Port of Beirut on 4 August 2020 and largely drew from the 2018-19 “Labour Force and Households’ Living Conditions Survey” conducted by the Central Administration for Statistics (CAS) and the ILO, in addition to a desk review of other publicly available information. It also greatly benefited from a number of key informant interviews conducted with tripartite stakeholders in Lebanon.