https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w26948/w26948.pdf

How many jobs can be done at home

Buying time: The delayed crisis of democratic capitalism

Evidence from past economic crises indicates that recessions often affect men's and women's employment differently, with a greater impact on male-dominated sectors. The current COVID-19 crisis presents novel characteristics that have affected economic, health and social phenomena over wide swaths of the economy. Social distancing measures to combat the spread of the virus, such as working from home and school closures, have placed an additional tremendous burden on families. Using new survey data collected in April 2020 from a representative sample of Italian women, we analyse the effects of working arrangements due to COVID-19 on housework, childcare and home schooling among couples where both partners work. Our results show that most of the additional housework and childcare associated to COVID-19 falls on women while childcare activities are more equally shared within the couple than housework activities. According to our empirical estimates, changes to the amount of housework done by women during the emergency do not seem to depend on their partners' working arrangements. With the exception of those continuing to work at their usual place of work, all of the women surveyed spend more time on housework than before. In contrast, the amount of time men devote to housework does depend on their partners' working arrangements: men whose partners continue to work at their usual workplace spend more time on housework than before. The link between time devoted to childcare and working arrangements is more symmetric, with higher percentages of both women and men spending less time with their children if they continue to work away from home. For home schooling, too, parents who continue to go to their usual workplace after the lockdown are less likely to spend greater amounts of time with their children than before. Similar results emerge for the partners of women not working before the emergency. Finally, analysis of work-life balance satisfaction shows that working women with children aged 0-5 are those who find balancing work and family more difficult during COVID-19. The work-life balance is especially difficult to achieve for those with partners who continue to work outside the home during the emergency.

/pdf/women-s-and-men-s-work-housework-and-childcare-before-and-3t3zimge2h.pdf

Women’s and men’s work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19

Background There are racial and ethnic disparities in the risk of contracting COVID-19. This study sought to assess how occupational segregation according to race and ethnicity may contribute to the risk of COVID-19. Methods Data about employment in 2019 by industry and occupation and race and ethnicity were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey. This data was combined with information about industries according to whether they were likely or possibly essential during the COVID-19 pandemic and the frequency of exposure to infections and close proximity to others by occupation. The percentage of workers employed in essential industries and occupations with a high risk of infection and close proximity to others by race and ethnicity was calculated. Results People of color were more likely to be employed in essential industries and in occupations with more exposure to infections and close proximity to others. Black workers in particular faced an elevated risk for all of these factors. Conclusion Occupational segregation into high-risk industries and occupations likely contributes to differential risk with respect to COVID-19. Providing adequate protections to workers may help to reduce these disparities.

Differential occupational risk for COVID-19 and other infection exposure according to race and ethnicity.

In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home (WFH) became of great importance for a large share of employees since it represents the only option to both continue working and minimise the risk of virus exposure. Uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic and future contagion waves even led companies to view WFH as a 'new normal' way of working. Based on influence function regression methods, this paper explores the potential consequences in the labour income distribution related to a long-lasting increase in WFH feasibility among Italian employees. Results show that a positive shift in WFH feasibility would be associated with an increase in average labour income, but this potential benefit would not be equally distributed among employees. Specifically, an increase in the opportunity to WFH would favour male, older, high-educated, and high-paid employees. However, this 'forced innovation' would benefit more employees living in provinces have been more affected by the novel coronavirus. WFH thus risks exacerbating pre-existing inequalities in the labour market, especially if it will not be adequately regulated. As a consequence, this study suggests that policies aimed at alleviating inequality, like income support measures (in the short run) and human capital interventions (in the long run), should play a more important compensating role in the future.

/pdf/working-from-home-and-income-inequality-risks-of-a-new-87opkqgimb.pdf

Working from home and income inequality: risks of a 'new normal' with COVID-19.

We analyze the task-content of occupations operating in about 600 sectors of the economy with a focus on the dimensions that expose workers to contagion risks during the COVID-19 epidemic. We do so in the Italian context, leveraging extremely detailed and granular information from ICP, the Italian equivalent of O*Net (the survey that describes the task content of US occupations). We find that several sectors need physical proximity to operate, mainly in services and retail trade. Workers at risk of complications from COVID-19 (mainly males above the age of 50) are concentrated in sectors characterized by little physical proximity or where working from home is feasible. We then study the sectoral lockdowns put in place by the Italian Government in March 2020. We find that governmental restrictions hit the sectors where the risk of contagion in the workplace was more widespread: the effect is stronger for proximity to the public than that with co-workers. The share of workers who have the possibility to work from home is higher in sectors that were not forced to close. The evidence we provide is useful to identify which activities pose larger risks for contagion among workers in the workplace and where to reinforce safety measures.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40797-021-00164-1.pdf

Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic

This paper uses a non-overlapping generations model of endogenous growth to emphasize the effect of human capital’s heterogeneity on economic growth. In addition to education, we present two different typologies of training. The first, technology-general, is independent of RD the second, technology-specific, is connected to the success of innovative activities and it is only provided to workers engaged in research. By extending Redding (Econ J 106:452–470, 1996), we demonstrate that human capital composition is important in determining the probability of innovation and the economy’s growth rate. Moreover, the paper shows that technology-general training avoids low development traps when R&D is absent.

/pdf/complementarity-between-heterogeneous-human-capital-and-r-d-whsx2o27ff.pdf

Complementarity between heterogeneous human capital and R&D: can job-training avoid low development traps?

We analyse the content of Italian occupations operating in about 600 sectors with a focus on the dimensions that expose workers to contagion risks during the COVID-19 epidemics. To do so we leverage extremely detailed and granular information from ICP, the Italian equivalent of O*Net. We find that several sectors need physical proximity to operate: the workers employed in Italy in sectors whose physical proximity index is above the national average are more than 6.5 million (most of them in retail trade). Groups at risk of contagion and complications from COVID-19 (mainly male above the age of 50) work in sectors that are little exposed to physical proximity, currently under lockdown or can work remotely. The sectoral lockdowns put in place by the Italian Government in March 2020 seem to have targeted sectors who operate in physical proximity, but not those directly exposed to infections (the health industry is not subject to lockdown). Most workers who can operate from home have not been put under lockdown and are currently working. Therefore, the number of workers who are not in workplaces could be up to 3 million higher than those whose sector has been shutdown.

/pdf/italian-workers-at-risk-during-the-covid-19-epidemic-1e45o1yovf.pdf

Italy was among the first countries to introduce drastic measures to reduce mobility in order to prevent the diffusion of Covid-19. On March 9, 26 out of 111 provinces were subject to severe limitations on individual mobility and social interactions. One day later, new restrictive measures were introduced in the whole country with no regional distinctions: this continued until June 3 when the limits on movements across regions were eventually lifted. By looking at these watershed moments, this paper explores, for the first time, the impact of the adoption and the removal of restrictive measures on changes in individual mobility in Italy. By using a spatial discontinuity approach, we show that these measures were effective in that they lowered individual mobility by about 7 percentage points relative to what is accounted for by the characteristics of the local population and the disease. The analysis shows, however, that local features played an important role after the travel bans were lifted: the catching up with pre-Covid-19 patterns has been stronger in those areas where the labour force is relatively less exposed to the risk of contagion and less likely to work from home.

/pdf/from-the-lockdown-to-the-new-normal-an-analysis-of-the-1yz4rit2im.pdf

Sergio Scicchitano

Papers

Working from home and income inequality: risks of a 'new normal' with COVID-19.

Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic

Complementarity between heterogeneous human capital and R&D: can job-training avoid low development traps?

Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic

From the lockdown to the new normal: An analysis of the limitations to individual mobility in Italy following the Covid-19 crisis