On the Mend: Ecuador’s bumpy road

In both phases, the Ecuador HFPS gathered data for Venezuelan households to assess differentiated impacts of the pandemic.3 The HFPS surveys collect information on changes in employment and income, the prevalence of food insecurity, and access to health, education, and financing services, which allows comparison of important indicators over three consecutive years (2020, 2021 and 2022).4 The secon. [...] These trends were also observed across Latin America and the Caribbean: by the end of 2021, 28 percent of households in the region reported total income reductions compared to mid-2021.7 In Ecuador, the reduction of total income affected 66 percent of Ecuadorian households and 72 percent of Venezuelan households in the first half of 2021. [...] In the October 2021 and all 2022 waves, changes are with respect to the income of the month of the previous wave. [...] The immediate positive consequences of the massive vaccine roll-out were felt in labor markets, in households' incomes, and, most notably, in the widespread economic reactivation that occurred in the second half of 2021. [...] In addition, they were paid 59 percent of what Ecuadorian workers received in a month.12 Venezuelan families were also hit the hardest at the beginning of the pandemic: at its worst, 38 percent of Venezuelans working before the pandemic stopped working in 2020, and the mechanisms for them to benefit from the government emergency programs were not in place.