The impact of Covid - 19 on households’ gem mining industry: a study based on Pelmadulla Divisional Secretariat, Ratnapura District

Abstract

The study examines to identify the impacts of COVID-19 on the household gem mining industry. In order to obtain the objective of socio-economic effect on household income, this study used household income as dependent variable and education, monthly consumption cost and number of family member as independent variables. The primary data were collected through structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews by the cluster sampling method. Microsoft Excel and SPSS -26 software were used for descriptive and multiple regression analysis. This study found few impacts through descriptive analysis, such as saving decreasing, fewer working days, and health issues quite high due to the lockdown and travel restrictions. Moreover, this study revealed that education and the number of family members have had positive impacts, while monthly consumption costs have had a negative impact on the income level of households. Thus, negative and positive relations between variables lead to promoting the socio-economic status of the household gem mining industry. Hence, this research draws up a few recommendations to improve the socio-economic status of the household. The government should consider the gem mining field and also take the proper policy for those workers to overcome such a situation in the future.