Does digitalization help employment stability during the COVID-19 pandemic?: Evidence from Korean survey data

Seongman Moon

No 21-1, APEC Study Series from Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

Abstract: Korean Abstract: 이 논문은 한국에서 수행된 설문조사 데이터를 사용하여 노동자의 ICT 사용 강도가 COVID-19 대유행 초기 단계에서 노동자의 고용안정성을 개선하는 데 도움이 되는지를 분석한다. 주요한 결과 중 하나로 팬데믹이 노동시장에 미친 영향이 노동자의 사회경제적 특성과 산업에 따라 다르다는 것을 발견하였다. 특히, 서비스 혹은 건설업에 종사하는 노동자, 임시직 노동자, 팬데믹 이전에 실업을 경험했던 노동자는 대유행의 초기 단계에서 실직, 일시 해고, 노동시간 단축, 혹은 임금이 감소할 가능성이 더 높았다. 다음으로 우리는 노동자의 ICT 사용 강도(intensity)를 컴퓨터, 모바일 및 인터넷 사용시간을 사용하여 측정하였는데, ICT 사용 강도가 높은 그룹에 속하는 노동자일수록 팬데믹이 노동시장에 미친 부정적인 효과를 피할 가능성이 높다는 것을 발견하였다. English Abstract: This paper investigates if workers’ ICT use intensity helps to improve their labor market outcomes in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic using real-time survey data produced in Korea. We first find that the impacts of the pandemic on labor market outcomes are different across workers’ socio-economic characteristics and industries where they are employed: workers in service or construction industries, temporary workers, and workers who had experienced unemployment before the pandemic are more likely to be unemployed, be furloughed, work less hours, and have earnings reduced in the early stage of the pandemic. We measure workers’ ICT use intensity by weekly computer, mobile, and internet usage hours and find that workers who belong to a group with high ICT use intensity tend to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic on their labor market outcomes, while controlling for skill-fixed, industry-fixed, and region-fixed effects as well as for individual characteristics.

Keywords: Korea; digitalization; employment stability; COVID-19; ICT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2021-10-20
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