Worker productivity during Covid-19 and adaptation to working from home

Ashley Burdett, Ben Etheridge, Li Tang and Yikai Wang

European Economic Review, 2024, vol. 167, issue C

Abstract: We examine workers’ reported productivity, which we validate against external metrics, over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. On average, workers report being at least as productive as before the pandemic’s onset. However, this average masks substantial heterogeneity, which is linked to job quality, gender, the presence of children, and ease of working from home. As the pandemic progressed, those who previously performed well at home were more likely to remain there. Building on these findings, we estimate factors affecting productivity outcomes across locations controlling for endogenous selection. We find that those in ‘good’ jobs (with managerial duties and working for large firms) were advantaged specifically in the home environment. More generally we find an effect of key personality traits – agreeableness and conscientiousness – on productivity outcomes across locations.

Keywords: Worker productivity; Working from home; COVID-19; Inequality; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 I24 I30 J21 J22 J24 L23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Working Paper: Worker productivity during Covid-19 and adaptation to working from home (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:167:y:2024:i:c:s001429212400117x

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104788

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