Browsing by Subject "Reopening"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Back to Business and (Re)employing Workers? Labor Market Activity During State COVID-19 Reopenings
    (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020-06) Cheng, Wei; Carlin, Patrick; Carroll, Joanna; Gupta, Sumedha; Rojas, Felipe Lozano; Montenovo, Laura; Nguyen, Thuy D.; Schmutte, Ian M.; Scrivner, Olga; Simon, Kosali I.; Wing, Coady; Weinberg, Bruce; Department of Economics, IU School of Liberal Arts
    We study the effect of state reopening policies on a large set of labor market indicators through May 2020 to: (1) understand the recent increase in employment using longitudinal as well as cross-sectional data, (2) assess the likely trajectory of reemployment going forward, and (3) investigate the strength of job matches that were disrupted by COVID-19. Estimates from event studies and difference-in-difference regressions suggest that some of the recent increases in employment activity, as measured by cellphone data on work-related mobility, internet searches related to employment, and new and continuing unemployment insurance claims, were likely related to state reopenings, often predating actual reopening dates somewhat. We provide suggestive evidence that increases in employment stem from people returning to their prior jobs: reopenings are only weakly related to job postings, and longitudinal CPS data show that large shares of the unemployed-on-layoff and employed-but-absent in April who transitioned to employment in May remain in the same industry or occupation. Longitudinal CPS estimates further show declines in reemployment probabilities with time away from work. Taken together, these estimates suggest that employment relationships are durable in the short run, but raise concerns that employment gains requiring new employment matches may not be as rapid.
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    Impacts of state COVID-19 reopening policy on human mobility and mixing behavior
    (Wiley, 2021) Nguyen, Thuy D.; Gupta, Sumedha; Andersen, Martin S.; Bento, Ana I.; Simon, Kosali I.; Wing, Coady; Economics, School of Liberal Arts
    This study quantifies the effect of the 2020 state COVID economic activity reopening policies on daily mobility and mixing behavior, adding to the economic literature on individual responses to public health policy that addresses public contagion risks. We harness cellular device signal data and the timing of reopening plans to provide an assessment of the extent to which human mobility and physical proximity in the United States respond to the reversal of state closure policies. We observe substantial increases in mixing activities, 13.56% at 4 days and 48.65% at 4 weeks, following reopening events. Echoing a theme from the literature on the 2020 closures, mobility outside the home increased on average prior to these state actions. Furthermore, the largest increases in mobility occurred in states that were early adopters of closure measures and hard-hit by the pandemic, suggesting that psychological fatigue is an important barrier to implementation of closure policies extending for prolonged periods of time.
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    Impacts of State Reopening Policy on Human Mobility
    (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020-05) Nguyen, Thuy D.; Gupta, Sumedha; Andersen, Martin; Bento, Ana; Simon, Kosali I.; Wing, Coady; O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IU & IUPUI
    This study quantifies the effect of state reopening policies on daily mobility, travel, and mixing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We harness cell device signal data to examine the effects of the timing and pace of reopening plans in different states. We quantify the increase in mobility patterns during the reopening phase by a broad range of cell-device-based metrics. Soon (four days) after reopening, we observe a 6% to 8% mobility increase. In addition, we find that temperature and precipitation are strongly associated with increased mobility across counties. The mobility measures that reflect visits to a greater variety of locations responds the most to reopening policies, while total time in vs. outside the house remains unchanged. The largest increases in mobility occur in states that were late adopters of closure measures, suggesting that closure policies may have represented more of a binding constraint in those states. Together, these four observations provide an assessment of the extent to which people in the U.S. are resuming movement and physical proximity as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.