Remote Work and the Heterogeneous Impact of COVID-19 on Employment and Health

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment and respiratory health for remote workers (i.e. those who can work from home) and non-remote workers in the United States. Using a large, nationally-representative, high-frequency panel dataset from March through July of 2020, we show that job losses were up to three times as large for non-remote workers. This gap is larger than the differential job losses for women, African Americans, Hispanics, or workers without college degrees. Non-remote workers also experienced relatively worse respiratory health, which likely occurred because it was more difficult for non-remote workers to protect themselves. Grouping workers by pre-pandemic household income shows that job losses and, to a lesser extent, health losses were highest among non-remote workers from low-income households, exacerbating existing disparities. Finally, we show that lifting non-essential business closures did not substantially increase employment.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 13620

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: COVID-19 ; employment ; working from home

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Angelucci, Manuela ; Angrisani, Marco ; Bennett, Daniel ; Kapteyn, Arie ; Schaner, Simone G.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/227147
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET