IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/29568.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

STEM Employment Resiliency During Recessions: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • James C. Davis
  • Holden A. Diethorn
  • Gerald R. Marschke
  • Andrew J. Wang

Abstract

Employment in STEM occupations suffered smaller peak-to-trough percentage declines than non-STEM occupations during the Great Recession and COVID-19 recession, suggesting a relative resiliency of STEM employment. We exploit the sudden peak-to-trough declines in STEM and non-STEM employment during the COVID-19 recession to measure STEM recession-resiliency, decomposing our difference-in-differences estimate into parts explained by various sources. We find that STEM knowledge importance on the job explains the greatest share of STEM employment resiliency, and that workers in non-STEM occupations who nonetheless use STEM knowledge experienced better employment outcomes. STEM employment resiliency may explain the mild effects of COVID-19 on innovative activity.

Suggested Citation

  • James C. Davis & Holden A. Diethorn & Gerald R. Marschke & Andrew J. Wang, 2021. "STEM Employment Resiliency During Recessions: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 29568, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29568
    Note: LS PR
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w29568.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ori Heffetz & Daniel Reeves, 2020. "Measuring Unemployment in Crisis: Effects of COVID-19 on Potential Biases in the CPS," NBER Working Papers 28310, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Ryan A. Decker & John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2020. "Changing Business Dynamism and Productivity: Shocks versus Responsiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(12), pages 3952-3990, December.
    3. Simon Mongey & Laura Pilossoph & Alexander Weinberg, 2021. "Which workers bear the burden of social distancing?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(3), pages 509-526, September.
    4. Dimitris Papanikolaou & Lawrence D W Schmidt, 2022. "Working Remotely and the Supply-Side Impact of COVID-19 [The unprecedented stock market reaction to COVID-19]," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(1), pages 53-111.
    5. Jonah B. Gelbach, 2016. "When Do Covariates Matter? And Which Ones, and How Much?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 509-543.
    6. Erling Barth & James C. Davis & Richard B. Freeman & Andrew J. Wang, 2018. "The Effects of Scientists and Engineers on Productivity and Earnings at the Establishment Where They Work," NBER Chapters, in: US Engineering in a Global Economy, pages 167-191, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    8. Brad Hershbein & Lisa B. Kahn, 2018. "Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1737-1772, July.
    9. Matthew Ross, 2021. "The Effect of Intensive Margin Changes to Task Content on Employment Dynamics over the Business Cycle," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(4), pages 1036-1064, August.
    10. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    11. Alex Chernoff & Casey Warman, 2023. "COVID-19 and implications for automation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(17), pages 1939-1957, April.
    12. Ben Jann, 2008. "The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(4), pages 453-479, December.
    13. Erik Brynjolfsson & John J. Horton & Adam Ozimek & Daniel Rock & Garima Sharma & Hong-Yi TuYe, 2020. "COVID-19 and Remote Work: An Early Look at US Data," NBER Working Papers 27344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Shimeng Liu & Weizeng Sun & John V. Winters, 2019. "Up In Stem, Down In Business: Changing College Major Decisions With The Great Recession," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 476-491, July.
    15. John (Jianqiu) Bai & Erik Brynjolfsson & Wang Jin & Sebastian Steffen & Chi Wan, 2021. "Digital Resilience: How Work-From-Home Feasibility Affects Firm Performance," NBER Working Papers 28588, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Hilary Hoynes & Douglas L. Miller & Jessamyn Schaller, 2012. "Who Suffers during Recessions?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 27-48, Summer.
    17. Borjas, George J. & Cassidy, Hugh, 2020. "The Adverse Effect of the COVID-19 Labor Market Shock on Immigrant Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 13277, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Laura Montenovo & Xuan Jiang & Felipe Lozano Rojas & Ian M. Schmutte & Kosali I. Simon & Bruce A. Weinberg & Coady Wing, 2020. "Determinants of Disparities in Covid-19 Job Losses," NBER Working Papers 27132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jeff E. Biddle, 2014. "Retrospectives: The Cyclical Behavior of Labor Productivity and the Emergence of the Labor Hoarding Concept," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 197-212, Spring.
    20. Alexander W. Bartik & Zoe B. Cullen & Edward L. Glaeser & Michael Luca & Christopher T. Stanton, 2020. "What Jobs are Being Done at Home During the Covid-19 Crisis? Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys," NBER Working Papers 27422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Jeffrey T. Denning & Patrick Turley, 2017. "Was That SMART?: Institutional Financial Incentives and Field of Study," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(1), pages 152-186.
    22. John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "Who Creates Jobs? Small versus Large versus Young," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 347-361, May.
    23. Erica Blom & Brian C. Cadena & Benjamin J. Keys, 2021. "Investment over the Business Cycle: Insights from College Major Choice," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 1043-1082.
    24. Hannes Kröger & Jörg Hartmann, 2021. "Extending the Kitagawa–Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach to panel data," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 21(2), pages 360-410, June.
    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. Wei Yang Tham & Joseph Staudt & Elisabeth Ruth Perlman & Stephanie D. Cheng, 2024. "Scientific Talent Leaks Out of Funding Gaps," Papers 2402.07235, arXiv.org.

    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. Oikonomou, Myrto & Pierri, Nicola & Timmer, Yannick, 2023. "IT shields: Technology adoption and economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Hansen, Stephen & Lambert, Peter John & Bloom, Nicholas & Davis, Steven J. & Sadun, Raffaella & Taska, Bledi, 2023. "Remote Work across Jobs, Companies, and Space," IZA Discussion Papers 15980, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Karel Mertens, 2023. "Work from Home before and after the COVID-19 Outbreak," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 1-39, October.
    4. 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.
    5. Julia Darby & Stuart McIntyre & Graeme Roy, 2022. "What can analysis of 47 million job advertisements tell us about how opportunities for homeworking are evolving in the United Kingdom?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 281-302, July.
    6. Armagan Gezici & Ozge Ozay, 2020. "An Intersectional Analysis of COVID-19 Unemployment," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 270-281, December.
    7. Betcherman,Gordon & Giannakopoulos,Nicholas & Laliotis,Ioannis & Pantelaiou,Ioanna & Testaverde,Mauro & Tzimas,Giannis, 2020. "Reacting Quickly and Protecting Jobs : The Short-Term Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown on the Greek Labor Market," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9356, The World Bank.
    8. Francesco Fasani & Jacopo Mazza, 2023. "Being on the Frontline? Immigrant Workers in Europe and the COVID-19 Pandemic," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(5), pages 890-918, October.
    9. Patrick Baylis & Pierre‐Loup Beauregard & Marie Connolly & Nicole M. Fortin & David A. Green & Pablo Gutiérrez‐Cubillos & Samuel Gyetvay & Catherine Haeck & Tímea Laura Molnár & Gaëlle Simard‐Duplain , 2022. "The distribution of COVID‐19–related risks," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 172-213, February.
      • Patrick Baylis & Pierre-Loup Beauregard & Marie Connolly & Nicole Fortin & David A. Green & Pablo Gutierrez Cubillos & Sam Gyetvay & Catherine Haeck & Timea Laura Molnar & Gaëlle Simard-Duplain & Henr, 2020. "The Distribution of COVID-19 Related Risks," NBER Working Papers 27881, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Patrick Baylis & Pierre-Loup Beauregard & Marie Connolly & Nicole Fortin & David A. Green & Pablo Gutiérrez-Cubillos & Samuel Gyetvay & Catherine Haeck & Tímea L. Molnár & Gäelle Simard-Duplain & Henr, 2020. "The Distribution of COVID-19 Related Risks," CIRANO Working Papers 2020s-50, CIRANO.
    10. Rebecca Brough & Matthew Freedman & David C. Phillips, 2021. "Understanding socioeconomic disparities in travel behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 753-774, September.
    11. Cortes, Guido Matias & Forsythe, Eliza, 2021. "The heterogenous labour market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," CLEF Working Paper Series 40, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    12. Luca Bonacini & Giovanni Gallo & Sergio Scicchitano, 2021. "Working from home and income inequality: risks of a ‘new normal’ with COVID-19," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 303-360, January.
    13. Laurent Bossavie & Daniel Garrote‐Sanchez & Mattia Makovec & Çağlar Özden, 2022. "Do immigrants shield the locals? Exposure to COVID‐related risks in the European Union," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1478-1514, November.
    14. Zarifhonarvar, Ali, 2022. "A Survey on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Labor Market," EconStor Preprints 265549, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "Early evidence of the impacts of COVID-19 on minority unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nick & Davis, Steven J., 2020. "Why Working From Home Will Stick," SocArXiv wfdbe, Center for Open Science.
    19. Blanas, Sotiris & Oikonomou, Rigas, 2023. "COVID-induced economic uncertainty, tasks and occupational demand," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Christian Kagerl & Julia Starzetz, 2023. "Working from home for good? Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and what this means for the future of work," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 229-265, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:nbr:nberwo:29568. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.