Do economic crises reshape the skill content of Jobs? Evidence from organizational changes in the post-pandemic era

Niklas Benner, Felix Heuer, Rebecca Kamb and Eduard Storm

No 1195, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: How do economic crises reshape firms' skill demand through changes in the organization of work? Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a shock to workplace practices, this paper examines whether short-term disruptions prompt lasting shifts in job requirements. We draw on 11 million German online job vacancies from 2017-2024 and implement an event-study design that exploits pre-pandemic variation in workfrom-home feasibility across occupations. This approach identifies firms' differential exposure to remote-work constraints based on the occupational mix of their job postings. We find that crisis-induced shifts in skill demand were mainly short-lived, but one adjustment persisted: a lasting rise in interactive requirements, reflecting the emergence of hybrid collaboration. This form of organizational change contrasts with the technology-driven automation emphasized in prior crises and was shaped mainly by structural factors - digital infrastructure, firm size, and sectoral exposure - rather than by cyclical variation. Our results show that temporary shocks can trigger selective and enduring shifts in firms' skill demand through evolving workplace organization.

Keywords: Online Job Ads; Skill Demand; Work-from-Home Feasibility; COVID-19; Task Reallocation; Event Study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 J63 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:335905

DOI: 10.4419/96973380

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