Work

Effects of social distancing policy on labor market outcomes

Year: 2022

Type: article

Study design: Observational Study

Abstract: US workers receive unemployment benefits if they lose their job, but not for reduced working hours. In alignment with the benefits incentives, we find that the labor market responded to COVID-19 and related closure-policies mostly on the extensive (12 pp outright job loss) margin. Exploiting timing variation in state closure-policies, difference-in-differences (DiD) estimates show, between March 12 and April 12, 2020, employment rate fell by 1.7 pp for every 10 extra days of state stay-at-home orders (SAH), with little effect on hours worked/earnings among those employed. Forty percentage of the unemployment was due to a nationwide shock, rest due to social-distancing policies, particularly among "non-essential" workers.

Source: Contemporary Economic Policy

DOI: 10.1111/coep.12582

Authors: Sumedha Gupta, Laura Montenovo, Thuy Nguyen, Felipe Lozano‐Rojas, Ian Schmutte, Kosali Simon, Bruce A. Weinberg, Coady Wing

Institutions: Indiana University Indianapolis, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana University, University of Michigan, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Georgia, National Bureau of Economic Research, The Ohio State University

Language: English

Topic: COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, No poverty, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,750

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Awards: The OSU Center for Clinical and Translational Science: Advancing Today's Discoveries to Improve Health, The Health and Economic Impacts of Infectious Diseases and Policy Responses

OpenAlex ID: W3130678199

FWCI: 13.9

Cites: 44

Cited by: 120

Related to: 10