The short-term economic consequences of COVID-19: Exposure to disease, remote work and government response

We examine the determinants of the consequences of COVID-19 on employment and wages in the United States. Guided by a pre-analysis plan, we investigate whether the economic consequences of COVID-19 were larger for certain occupations, using four indexes: workers relatively more exposed to disease, w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2023-01, Vol.18 (3), p.e0270341
Main Authors: Louis-Philippe Beland, Abel Brodeur, Taylor Wright
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We examine the determinants of the consequences of COVID-19 on employment and wages in the United States. Guided by a pre-analysis plan, we investigate whether the economic consequences of COVID-19 were larger for certain occupations, using four indexes: workers relatively more exposed to disease, workers that work with proximity to coworkers, essential/critical workers and workers who can easily work remotely. We find that individuals that work in proximity to others are more affected while individuals able to work remotely and essential workers are less affected by the pandemic. We also present suggestive evidence that our indexes are likely explanations why certain demographic groups such as younger and minority workers have worse labor market outcomes during the pandemic.
ISSN:1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0270341