The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected the lives of millions of people globally. In December 2019, Chinese public health authorities reported several cases of acute respiratory syndrome in Wuhan. The disease is now called COVID-19, and the causative virus is named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2). It is a replacement strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans.

The coronavirus pandemic has completely engulfed the world. The United States is now the epicenter of the crisis. The worldwide shutdowns necessary to contain the spread of the virus has been quite detrimental to the global economy. What is good for public health has been devastating for economies around the world. In the United States, about 17 million people, more than 10 percent of the labor force, filed for unemployment claims during the month of March. Canada sheds more than one million jobs in March, which represents almost five percent of the country’s labor force. The statistics are unavailable for Nepal but if it were, it would be damning for the economy. Since there is no public provision for lost income in Nepal, there are no estimates to rely on to quantify the labor market effects of the economic shutdown.