Moving (within and across) spatial labour markets in times of COVID-19: evidence from Facebook mobility data on Italian labour market areas

Andrea Ascani, Alessandra Faggian, Sandro Montresor () and Alessandro Palma

No 2021-01, Discussion Paper series in Regional Science & Economic Geography from Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences

Abstract: This article aims at investigating the interplay between the local spread of COVID-19 and the patterns of individual mobility. Conceptually, we connect the debate on the resilience to the perturbation caused by COVID-19 with the literature on spatial labour markets. By looking at very granular flows of Facebook users moving within and across Italian labour market areas (LMAs), we analyse whether their heterogeneous internal mobility has had a significant impact on excess mortality, thus testing whether, and under which circumstances, LMAs have actually behaved as self-containing local systems or have rather exported/imported people (and possibly) infections to/from other labour markets. We further extend the analysis by exploring how individual mobility plays different roles depending on the typology of LMAs considered. Specifically, we focus on LMAs hosting industrial districts, which are characterised by a thicker local labour market and denser business and social interactions, as well as LMAs with a high presence of “essential sectors†, i.e. activities not affected by the COVID-19 containment measures taken by the Italian government at the onset of the crisis.

Keywords: labour market; mobility; COVID-19; resilience; Facebook (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 J61 R10 R12 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2021-01, Revised 2021-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-geo and nep-ure
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