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Job Search during the COVID-19 Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Hensvik, Lena

    (Uppsala University, IFAU, CEPR)

  • Le Barbanchon, Thomas

    (Bocconi University, CEPR, IGIER, IZA, J-PAL)

  • Rathelot, Roland

    (University of Warwick, CAGE, CEPR, J-PAL)

Abstract

This paper measures the job-search responses to the COVID-19 pandemic using realtime data on vacancy postings and ad views on Sweden’s largest online job board. First, the labour demand shock in Sweden is as large as in the US, and affects industries and occupations heterogeneously. Second, the scope and direction of search change. Job seekers respond to the shock by searching less intensively and by redirecting their search towards less severely hit occupations, beyond what changes in labour demand would predict. The redirection of job search changes relative hiring costs, and has the potential to amplify labour demand shifts

Suggested Citation

  • Hensvik, Lena & Le Barbanchon, Thomas & Rathelot, Roland, 2020. "Job Search during the COVID-19 Crisis," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1267, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:1267
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    coronavirus ; search intensity ; search direction ; labour demand shock ; job vacancies ; online job board ; JEL codes: J22 ; J23 ; J21 ; J62 ; J63 ; J64; E24;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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