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COVID-19 Employment Status Impacts on Food Sector Workers

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  • Cho, Seung Jin

    (Iowa State University)

  • Lee, Jun Yeong

    (Iowa State University)

  • Winters, John V.

    (Iowa State University)

Abstract

Food production and distribution is essential for human well-being, but the food sector has experienced a number of difficulties maintaining worker health and productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine employment status changes of persons recently employed in the U.S. food sector with a focus on food manufacturing and grocery stores. We find that the pandemic significantly reduced the probability of continued active employment for previous workers in both food manufacturing and grocery stores. Individual-level analysis confirms that the COVID-19 infection rate in an individual's local labor market is a strong and significant factor. The employment changes are not just due to unemployment during facility closures. Previous workers increasingly exit the labor force as the severity of the COVID-19 infection rate in their local area worsens. The considerable risk of infection drives many previous food sector workers to stop working altogether. Maintaining worker health and safety is essential for a stable food supply.

Suggested Citation

  • Cho, Seung Jin & Lee, Jun Yeong & Winters, John V., 2020. "COVID-19 Employment Status Impacts on Food Sector Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 13334, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13334
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    Cited by:

    1. A. Ford Ramsey & Barry Goodwin & Mildred Haley, 2021. "Labor Dynamics and Supply Chain Disruption in Food Manufacturing," NBER Chapters, in: Risks in Agricultural Supply Chains, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Swanson, Katelin A. & Mandal, Bidisha, 2022. "The Impacts of COVID-19 on Employment in the Food Manufacturing Subsector," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322107, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Chen-Ti Chen & Tao Xiong & Wendong Zhang, 2020. "Large Hog Companies Gain from China's Ongoing African Swine Fever," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications apr-spring-2020-5, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    4. Xi He & Wendong Zhang, 2020. "Implications of Hong Kong's Special Status Revocation for Agricultural Trade between the United States, Hong Kong, and Mainland China," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications apr-spring-2020-2, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    5. Festus Victor Bekun & Abdulkareem Alhassan & Ilhan Ozturk & Obadiah Jonathan Gimba, 2022. "Explosivity and Time-Varying Granger Causality: Evidence from the Bubble Contagion Effect of COVID-19-Induced Uncertainty on Manufacturing Job Postings in the United States," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(24), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Yulong Chen & Liyuan Ma & Peter F. Orazem, 2020. "Does Rural Broadband Expansion Encourage Firm Entry?," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications apr-spring-2020-4, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    7. Ashraf Elsafty & Mohamed Osman, 2023. "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Efficiency of Packing Lines in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Sites in Egypt," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(7), pages 1-57, February.
    8. Francesco Carbonero & Sergio Scicchitano, 2025. "Labour and technology at the time of COVID-19: can artificial intelligence mitigate the need for proximity?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 15(4), pages 1167-1203, December.
    9. Seung Jin Cho & Jun Yeong Lee & John V. Winters, 2020. "Rural Areas and Middle America See Smaller Employment Losses from COVID-19," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications apr-spring-2020-1, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    10. Xiaobing Shuai & Christine Chmura & James Stinchcomb, 2021. "COVID-19, labor demand, and government responses: evidence from job posting data," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 29-42, January.
    11. Seung Jin Cho & Jun Yeong Lee & John V. Winters, 2021. "Employment impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic across metropolitan status and size," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 1958-1996, December.
    12. Lee L. Schulz & Chad Hart, 2020. "Agriculture under the Specter of COVID-19," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications apr-spring-2020-3, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.

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    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture

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