Economic Shocks and Skill Acquisition: Evidence from a National Online Learning Platform at the Onset of COVID-19

Ina Ganguli, Jamal Haidar (), Asim Khwaja, Samuel W. Stemper and Basit Zafar

No 29921, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study how large shocks impact individuals’ skilling decisions using data from the largest online learning platform in Saudi Arabia. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a massive increase in online skilling, and demand shifted towards courses that offered skills, such as telework, likely to be immediately valuable during the pandemic. Consistent with a model where individuals trade off reskilling costs with their expectations of future labor market conditions and their duration of work, we find that shifts into telework courses were largest for older workers. In contrast, younger workers increased enrollments in courses related to new skills, such as general, occupation-specific, and computer-related skills. Using national administrative employment data, we provide suggestive evidence that these investments in skills in early 2020 helped users maintain employment over the course of the pandemic.

JEL-codes: I21 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-04
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Published as Ina Ganguli & Jamal Ibrahim Haidar & Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Samuel Stemper & Basit Zafar, 2024. "Economic shocks and skill acquisition: Evidence from a national online learning platform at the onset of COVID-19," Labour Economics, .

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Journal Article: Economic shocks and skill acquisition: Evidence from a national online learning platform at the onset of COVID-19 (2024)
Working Paper: Economic shocks and skill acquisition: evidence from a national online learning platform at the onset of COVID-19 (2024)
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