Covid-19
Did the TERS policy save jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic?
South Africa’s Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) has arguably served as the country’s most important labour market intervention in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to date. As the government winds down the policy two years after its inception, a key question is: was it successful in achieving its primary aim of saving jobs?
The Covid-19 crisis has amplified spatial inequalities
The economic and social crisis induced by Covid-19 is unfolding in different ways across the country. New evidence from the NIDS-CRAM survey reveals that the pandemic has widened pre-existing inequalities between cities and rural areas. Within cities it has magnified the gap between suburbs, townships and informal settlements. A premature withdrawal of government relief schemes could aggravate the hardship and suffering in poor communities that have come to rely on these resources following the jobs slump.