Working Paper: NBER ID: w28354
Authors: Sang Yoon Lee; Tim Lee; Minsung Park; Yongseok Shin
Abstract: The destructive economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was distributed unequally across the population. Gender, race and ethnicity, age, education level, and a worker's industry and occupation all mattered. We analyze the initial negative effect and the lingering effect through the recovery phase across demographic and socio-economic groups. The initial negative impact on employment was larger for women, minorities, the less educated, and the young, even after accounting for the industries and occupations they worked in. By November 2020, however, the differential impact between men and women, and between education and age groups has vanished. Across race and ethnic groups, Hispanics and Asians were the worse hit but made up for most of the lost ground, while the initial impact on Blacks was smaller but recovery slower.
Keywords: COVID-19; employment effects; inequality
JEL Codes: E24; J15; J16; J21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| COVID-19 pandemic (H12) | economic impact for women, minorities, less educated, and younger workers (J79) |
| economic impact for women, minorities, less educated, and younger workers (J79) | disproportionate presence in vulnerable industries (J79) |
| differential impact of the pandemic (F69) | diminished by November 2020 for gender and education levels (J79) |
| initially less affected Black workers (J79) | slower recovery compared to other racial groups (J15) |
| unemployment rates for Hispanics and Asians (J69) | increased significantly (F69) |
| unemployment rates for White and Black workers (J79) | lesser increases (E49) |