Who Bears the Brunt of Lockdown Policies? Evidence from Tele-workability Measures Across Countries

Mariya Brussevich, Era Dabla-Norris () and Salma Khalid ()
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Era Dabla-Norris: International Monetary Fund
Salma Khalid: International Monetary Fund

IMF Economic Review, 2022, vol. 70, issue 3, No 6, 560-589

Abstract: Abstract Lockdowns imposed around the world to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its variants had a differential impact on economic activity and jobs owing to differences in the ability to work remotely. This paper presents a new index of the feasibility to work from home to investigate which types of jobs are most at risk for 35 advanced and emerging market economies. Cross-country heterogeneity in the ability to work remotely reflects differential access to and use of technology, sectoral mix, and occupational selection. Workers least likely to work remotely tend to be young, without a college education, working for non-standard contracts, employed in smaller firms, and those at the bottom of the earnings distribution, suggesting that the pandemic has exacerbated inequality. Policies should account for demographic and distributional considerations both during the crisis and in its aftermath.

JEL-codes: D24 J22 J61 O30 R12 R32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41308-022-00165-9

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