IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0253331.html

Some searches may not work properly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

   My bibliography  Save this article

Is there life beyond the Spanish government’s aid to furloughed employees by COVID-19?

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Laborda
  • Pilar Rivera-Torres
  • Vicente Salas-Fumas
  • Cristina Suárez

Abstract

This paper examines the perceptions of firms in April 2020, one month after the Spanish Government declared the state of alarm, about how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect their business activity in the following months, and what employment decisions they expect to make in response. The data for the study was collected by the Government of the region of Aragon (Spain) through a survey of a non-randomly selected sample of firms located in the region. In addition to prospects and intended actions, firms were asked whether or not they had applied for ERTE aid (the Spanish job retention scheme to contain the pandemic crisis). We find that firms participating (voluntarily and anonymously) in the survey anticipated rather well the severity of the effects of the pandemic in the following months. The ERTE aid helped firms to maintain the jobs of their inactive employees, while firms that did not ask for aid responded by laying off employees. Further, the ERTE aid helped to maintain the jobs of furloughed employees, but the firms receiving ERTE aid expected to lay off the same proportion of employees as firms without that aid, controlling for the different anticipated effects of the pandemic in the two groups of firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Laborda & Pilar Rivera-Torres & Vicente Salas-Fumas & Cristina Suárez, 2021. "Is there life beyond the Spanish government’s aid to furloughed employees by COVID-19?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0253331
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253331
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253331
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253331&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0253331?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamish Low & Michaela Benzeval & Jon Burton & Thomas F. Crossley & Paul Fisher & Annette Jäckle & Brendan Read, 2020. "The Idiosyncratic Impact of an Aggregate Shock The Distributional Consequences of COVID-19," Economics Series Working Papers 911, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Nicholas Bloom & Philip Bunn & Paul Mizen & Pawel Smietanka & Gregory Thwaites, 2020. "The Impact of Covid-19 on Productivity," NBER Working Papers 28233, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Tito Boeri & Herbert Bruecker, 2011. "Short‐time work benefits revisited: some lessons from the Great Recession," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 26(68), pages 697-765, October.
    4. Alexander W. Bartik & Marianne Bertrand & Zoë B. Cullen & Edward L. Glaeser & Michael Luca & Christopher T. Stanton, 2020. "How Are Small Businesses Adjusting to COVID-19? Early Evidence from a Survey," NBER Working Papers 26989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Aspachs, Oriol & Durante, Ruben & Graziano, Alberto & Mestres, Josep & García-Montalvo, José & Reynal-Querol, Marta, 2022. "Real-Time Inequality and the Welfare State in Motion: Evidence from COVID-19 in Spain," CEPR Discussion Papers 15118, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Scott, Dana & Finamor, Lucas, 2020. "Employment Effects of Unemployment Insurance Generosity During the Pandemic," MPRA Paper 102390, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Giulia Giupponi & Camille Landais, 2023. "Subsidizing Labour Hoarding in Recessions: The Employment and Welfare Effects of Short-time Work," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(4), pages 1963-2005.
    8. Oriol Aspachs & Ruben Durante & Alberto Graziano & Josep Mestres & José Garcia Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Real-Time inequality and the welfare state in motion: Evidence from COVID-19 in Spain," Economics Working Papers 1741, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    9. Cahuc, Pierre & Carcillo, Stéphane, 2011. "Is Short-Time Work a Good Method to Keep Unemployment Down?," IZA Discussion Papers 5430, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    11. Bennedsen, Morten & Larsen, Birthe & Schmutte, Ian & Scur, Daniela, 2020. "Preserving job matches during the COVID-19 pandemic: firm-level evidence on the role of government aid," GLO Discussion Paper Series 588, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Alejandro Fernández Cerezo & Beatriz González & Mario Izquierdo & Enrique Moral-Benito, 2021. "The economic impact of COVID-19 on Spanish firms according to the Banco de España Business Activity Survey (EBAE)," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue 1/2021.
    13. Yasar, Mahmut & Rejesus, Roderick M., 2005. "Exporting status and firm performance: Evidence from a matched sample," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 397-402, September.
    14. Juranek, Steffen & Paetzold, Jörg & Winner, Hannes & Zoutman, Floris T., 2020. "Labor Market Effects of COVID-19 in Sweden and its Neighbors: Evidence from Novel Administrative Data," Discussion Papers 2020/8, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    15. Oriol Aspachs & Ruben Durante & Alberto Graziano & Josep Mestres & José García-Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Real-Time Inequality and the Welfare State in Motion: Evidence from COVID-19 in Spain," Working Papers 1202, Barcelona School of Economics.
    16. Oriol Aspachs & Ruben Durante & Alberto Graziano & Josep Mestres & José Garcia Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Real-time inequality and the welfare state in motion: Evidence from COVID-19 in Spain," Economics Working Papers 1734, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    17. Andersen, Torben M. & Schröder, Philipp J. H. & Svarer, Michael, 2020. "Designing Reopening Strategies in the Aftermath of COVID-19 Lockdowns: Some Principles with an Application to Denmark," IZA Policy Papers 158, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Shahidur R. Khandker & Gayatri B. Koolwal & Hussain A. Samad, . "Handbook on Impact Evaluation : Quantitative Methods and Practices," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 2693, September.
    19. Landais, Camille & Giupponi, Giulia, 2018. "Subsidizing Labor Hoarding in Recessions: The Employment & Welfare Effects of Short Time Work," CEPR Discussion Papers 13310, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Felix Ballesteros-Leiva & Sylvie St-Onge & Marie-Ève Dufour, 2023. "Furloughed Employees’ Voluntary Turnover: The Role of Procedural Justice, Job Insecurity, and Job Embeddedness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Luis Martín-Domingo & Juan Carlos Martín, 2022. "The Effect of COVID-Related EU State Aid on the Level Playing Field for Airlines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carmen Aina & Irene Brunetti & Chiara Mussida & Sergio Scicchitano, 2023. "Distributional effects of COVID-19," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 221-256, March.
    2. Ainaa, Carmen & Brunetti, Irene & Mussida, Chiara & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "Who lost the most? Distributive effects of COVID-19 pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 829, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Francesca Carta & Marta De Philippis, 2021. "The impact of the COVID-19 shock on labour income inequality: evidence from Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 606, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Julien Albertini & Xavier Fairise & Arthur Poirier & Anthony Terriau, 2022. "Short-Time Work Policies During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 146, pages 123-172.
    5. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/2ju03cb3kc9a3986bsibii70hd is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Davide Furceri & Prakash Loungani & Jonathan D. Ostry & Pietro Pizzuto, 2022. "Will COVID-19 Have Long-Lasting Effects on Inequality? Evidence from Past Pandemics," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(4), pages 811-839, December.
    7. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    8. Cahuc, Pierre & Kramarz, Francis & Nevoux, Sandra, 2021. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Short-Time Work: From Saved Jobs to Windfall Effects," CEPR Discussion Papers 16168, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Stefan Pollinger, 2023. "Optimal Contact Tracing and Social Distancing Policies to Suppress A New Infectious Disease," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2483-2503.
    10. Marlon R. Tracey & Solomon W. Polachek, 2020. "Heterogeneous Layoff Effects of the US Short‐Time Compensation Program," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 34(4), pages 399-426, December.
    11. Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "Inequalities in the times of a pandemic," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(109), pages 5-41.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2ju03cb3kc9a3986bsibii70hd is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Mr. Andrew Berg & Lahcen Bounader & Nikolay Gueorguiev & Hiroaki Miyamoto & Mr. Kenji Moriyama & Ryota Nakatani & Luis-Felipe Zanna, 2021. "For the Benefit of All: Fiscal Policies and Equity-Efficiency Trade-offs in the Age of Automation," IMF Working Papers 2021/187, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Pierre Cahuc & Francis Kramarz & Sandra Nevoux, 2021. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Short-Time Work: From Saved Jobs to Windfall Effects," SciencePo Working papers hal-03602410, HAL.
    15. José Garcia Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Distributional effects of COVID-19 on spending: A first look at the evidence from Spain," Economics Working Papers 1740, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    16. Monica Martinez-Bravo & Carlos Sanz, 2021. "Inequality and psychological well-being in times of COVID-19: evidence from Spain," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 489-548, December.
    17. Ulrike Huemer & Rainer Eppel & Marion Kogler & Helmut Mahringer & Lukas Schmoigl & David Pichler, 2021. "Effektivität von Instrumenten der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik in unterschiedlichen Konjunkturphasen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67250, October.
    18. Oriol Aspachs & Ruben Durante & Alberto Graziano & Josep Mestres & Marta Reynal-Querol & Jose G Montalvo, 2021. "Tracking the impact of COVID-19 on economic inequality at high frequency," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, March.
    19. Kosteas, Vasilios D. & Renna, Francesco & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2022. "Covid-19 and Working from Home: toward a "new normal"?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1013, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Bruno Ducoudre & Pierre Madec, 2020. "Évaluation au 6 mai 2020 de l'impact économique de la pandémie de COVID-19 et des mesures de confinement sur le marché du travail en France," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03401434, HAL.
    21. Alejandro Fernández-Cerezo & Beatriz Gonzalez & Mario Izquierdo Peinado & Enrique Moral-Benito, 2023. "Firm-level heterogeneity in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(42), pages 4946-4974, September.
    22. Leonardo Fabio Morales & Leonardo Bonilla‐Mejía & Jose Pulido & Luz A. Flórez & Didier Hermida & Karen L. Pulido‐Mahecha & Francisco Lasso‐Valderrama, 2022. "Effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the Colombian labour market: Disentangling the effect of sector‐specific mobility restrictions," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 308-357, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0253331. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.