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Search and Reallocation in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Carrillo-Tudela, Carlos
  • Comunello, Camila
  • Clymo, Alex
  • Jaeckle, Annette
  • Visschers, Ludo
  • Zentler-Munro, David

Abstract

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK labour market has been extremely heterogeneous across occupation and industrial sectors. Using novel data on job search, we document how individuals adjust their job search behaviour in response to changing employment patterns across occupations and industries in the UK. We observe that workers changed their search direction in favour of expanding occupations and industries as the pandemic developed. This suggests job searchers do respond to occupation-wide and industry-wide conditions in addition to idiosyncratic career concerns. However, non-employed workers and those with low education levels are more attached to their previous occupations and more likely to target declining ones. We also see workers from declining occupations making fewer transitions to expanding occupations than those who start in such occupations, despite targeting these jobs relatively frequently. This suggests those at the margins of the labour market may be least able to escape occupations that declined during the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Carrillo-Tudela, Carlos & Comunello, Camila & Clymo, Alex & Jaeckle, Annette & Visschers, Ludo & Zentler-Munro, David, 2022. "Search and Reallocation in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the UK," CEPR Discussion Papers 17067, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:17067
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    2. Felder, Rahel & Sheldon, George, 2023. "Ein System zur laufenden Messung der Knappheitsverhältnisse auf beruflichen Arbeitsmärkten in der Schweiz," Working papers 2023/10, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    3. Flavio V Vieira & Cleomar Gomes da Silva, 2024. "Global inflation before and after the covid-19 pandemic: a panel data approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(3), pages 889-903.
    4. Forsythe, Eliza & Kahn, Lisa B. & Lange, Fabian & Wiczer, David, 2022. "Where have all the workers gone? Recalls, retirements, and reallocation in the COVID recovery," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2023. "Perceived returns to job search," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Blanas, Sotiris & Oikonomou, Rigas, 2023. "COVID-induced economic uncertainty, tasks and occupational demand," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Yudai Higashi & Masaru Sasaki, 2024. "Did COVID-19 Deteriorate Mismatch in the Japanese Labor Market?," Discussion Paper Series DP2024-29, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Oct 2025.
    8. Bryce Morsky & Tyler Meadows & Felicia Magpantay & Troy Day, 2025. "The gig economy during an epidemic: coupling disease transmission with labour market dynamics," Papers 2508.18377, arXiv.org.
    9. Gu, Ran & Zhong, Ling, 2023. "Effects of stay-at-home orders on skill requirements in vacancy postings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Carlos Carrillo-Tudela & Alex Clymo & Cristina La Fuente & Ludo Visschers & David Zentler-Munro, 2025. "Spanish labour market, mobility and labour shortages," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 257-296, June.
    11. J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Jorge Fernández Orellana & Manu García & Daniel Pérez Gutiérrez, 2025. "Protección Laboral en un Mercado Dual: Lecciones de una Pandemia," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2025-18, FEDEA.
    12. Tore Dubbert & Adrian Schroeder, 2025. "Conditioning business and financial cycles on multivariate information," CQE Working Papers 11225, Center for Quantitative Economics (CQE), University of Muenster.
    13. Divle, Sunduz & Ertac, Seda & Gumren, Mert, 2024. "The impact of COVID-19 on the willingness to work in teams," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    14. Cristina Lafuente and Astrid Ruland, 2022. "Short-Time Work schemes and labour market flows in Europe during COVID," Economics Working Papers EUI ECO 2022/02, European University Institute.
    15. Pizzinelli, Carlo & Shibata, Ippei, 2023. "Has COVID-19 induced labor market mismatch? Evidence from the US and the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Raquel Carrasco & Virginia Hernanz & Juan Francisco Jimeno, 2024. "Employment Protection by Job Retention Schemes in a Segmented Labor Market," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2024-25, FEDEA.
    17. Bennedsen, Morten & Larsen, Birthe & Schmutte, Ian M. & Scur, Daniela, 2023. "The effect of preserving job matches during a crisis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    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
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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