Financial Livelihood of Dhaka Metropolis Slum Dwellers of Bangladesh during Covid-19: Underlying “Latent” Constructs

This research identified underlying factors/ constructs affecting urban slum dwellers’ financial condition during COVID-19 in Bangladesh. This is an extension of the study that identified 51 attributes in seven categories: i) work/ job, ii) wage/ earning, iii) stakeholder, iv) savings/ expenditure/ debt, v) food, vi) family well-being, and vii) offspring. Statistical factor analysis technique is conducted for dimensionality reduction to group the 51 variables under common premise. The study identified fourteen factors/ constructs that affected households during Covid-19 pandemic. The most important latent factors/ construct is related to earning shortfall, followed by stakeholders standing, and spending/ expenses. The earning shortfall-related construct consisting of 10 of the 51 variables appears to be the most important as it explains 21.251% of the variability. The second important factor (stakeholder standing) explains 7.178% of the variability and consists of eight variables involving stakeholders. The third one (spending/ expenses) consisting of six variables explains 6.548% of the variability related to household expenditure. Other factors do not seem to be very significant as they explain very low variability (=5%). The study noted that the factors and the group variables (Complex variables) identified in the coordination schema are quite coherent and consistent.