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Social Distancing, Labor Market Outcomes, and Job Characteristics in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Suqin Ge

    (Department of Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA)

  • Yu Zhou

    (Jinan University-University of Birmingham Joint Institute, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China)

Abstract

This study investigates the role of job characteristics on an individual¡¯s decisions to follow social distancing policies, work, and apply for unemployment insurance in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use data that track millions of mobile devices and their daily movements across physical locations to measure whether the devices¡¯ owners leave their homes, or work part-time or fulltime on a given day, and we also collect data on weekly unemployment insurance claims. We find that the presence of jobs with a high work-from-home capacity in a region increases the ability of people to follow social distancing policies and decreases their unemployment risk, whereas the presence of jobs with high physical proximity decreases the incidences of following social distancing policies and unemployment and increases the incidence of work during the pandemic. These heterogeneous responses based on local job characteristics persist even conditional on a broad set of demographic and socioeconomic variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Suqin Ge & Yu Zhou, 2020. "Social Distancing, Labor Market Outcomes, and Job Characteristics in the COVID-19 Pandemic," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 15(4), pages 478-520, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:fec:journl:v:15:y:2020:i:4:p:478-520
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    File URL: http://journal.hep.com.cn/fec/EN/10.3868/s060-011-020-0021-3
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    work-from-home; physical proximity; social distancing; employment; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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