Occupational reallocation and mismatch in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic
Cross-country evidence from an online job site
Employment has recovered strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic despite large structural
changes in labour markets, such as the widespread adoption of digital business models
and remote work. We analyse whether the pandemic has been associated with labour reallocation
across occupations and triggered mismatches between occupational labour demand and
supply using novel data on employers’ job postings and jobseekers’ clicks across 19
countries from the online job site Indeed. Findings indicate that, on average across
countries, the pandemic triggered large and persistent reallocation of postings and
clicks across occupations. Occupational mismatch initially increased but was back
to pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2022 as employers and workers adjusted to structural
changes. The adjustment was substantially slower in countries that resorted to short-time
work schemes to preserve employment during the pandemic.
Title under embargo until May 17, 2024 05:00 GMT+00:00
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