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Reacting Quickly and Protecting Jobs : The Short-Term Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown on the Greek Labor Market

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  • Betcherman,Gordon
  • Giannakopoulos,Nicholas
  • Laliotis,Ioannis
  • Pantelaiou,Ioanna
  • Testaverde,Mauro
  • Tzimas,Giannis

Abstract

This paper uses administrative, survey, and online vacancy data to analyze the short-term labor market impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece. The analysis finds that flows into unemployment have not increased; instead, separations were lower than would have been expected given trends in recent years. At the same time, employment was about 12 percent lower at the end of June than it would have been without the pandemic. The interrupted time-series and difference-in-differences estimates indicate that this was due to a dramatic slowdown in hiring during months when job creation typically peaks in normal years, mostly in tourism. Although the reasons for these patterns are not formally tested, the analysis suggests that the measures introduced to mitigate the effects of the crisis in Greece played an important role. These measures prohibited layoffs in industries affected by the crisis and tied the major form of income support to the maintenance of employment relationships.

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  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9356
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    Cited by:

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    2. Minoru Higa & Carlos Ospino & Fernando Aragon, 2023. "The persistent effects of COVID-19 on labour outcomes: evidence from Peru," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(8), pages 1065-1076, May.
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    4. Bossavie,Laurent Loic Yves & Garrote Sanchez,Daniel & Makovec,Mattia & Ozden,Caglar, 2021. "Occupational Hazards : Migrants and the Economic and Health Risks of COVID-19 in Western Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9873, The World Bank.
    5. Panagiotis Palaios & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2022. "Oil prices, labour market adjustment and dynamic quantile connectedness analysis: evidence from Greece during the crisis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Ourania Tzoraki & Svetlana Dimitrova & Marin Barzakov & Saad Yaseen & Vasilis Gavalas & Hani Harb & Abas Haidari & Brian P. Cahill & Alexandra Ćulibrk & Ekaterini Nikolarea & Eleni Andrianopulu & Miro, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Working Conditions, Employment, Career Development and Well-Being of Refugee Researchers," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Libertad Moreno-Luna & María Concepción Saavedra-Serrano & Manuel Jimenez & Juan Antonio Simón & Jose Francisco Tornero-Aguilera, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social, Health, and Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, June.
    8. Köhler, Timothy & Bhorat, Haroon & Hill, Robert & Stanwix, Benjamin, 2023. "Lockdown stringency and employment formality: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 57, pages 1-3.
    9. Yannick Fosso Djoumessi & Fosso Yannick, 2020. "The Adverse Impact of the Covid-19 on Labor Market in Cameroon [L'impact négatif du Covid-19 sur le marché du travail au Cameroun]," Working Papers hal-02917816, HAL.
    10. Tsai, I-Chun & Chiang, Ying-Hui & Lin, Shih-Yuan, 2022. "Effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on city-center and suburban housing markets: Evidence from Hangzhou, China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    11. Nam, Minhyuk & Lee, Soohyung, 2021. "COVID-19 and Employment in South Korea: Trends and Comparison with the 2008 Financial Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 14101, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Wolter H. J. Hassink & Guyonne Kalb & Jordy Meekes, 2021. "Regional Coronavirus Hotspots During the COVID-19 Outbreak in the Netherlands," De Economist, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 127-140, May.
    13. Palacios-Lopez,Amparo & Newhouse,David Locke & Pape,Utz Johann & Khamis,Melanie & Weber,Michael & Prinz,Daniel, 2021. "The Early Labor Market Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries : Evidence from High-Frequency Phone Surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9510, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural Labor Markets; Employment and Unemployment; Labor Markets; Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases; Social Development&Poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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