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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Economics

W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

2020

Earnings

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Cares Act On Earnings And Inequality, Guido Matias Cortes, Eliza C. Forsythe Sep 2020

Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Cares Act On Earnings And Inequality, Guido Matias Cortes, Eliza C. Forsythe

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we show that the Covid-19 pandemic led to a loss of aggregate real labor earnings of more than $250 billion between March and July 2020. By exploiting the panel structure of the CPS, we show that the decline in aggregate earnings was entirely driven by declines in employment; individuals who remained employed did not experience any atypical earnings changes. We find that job losses were substantially larger among workers in low-paying jobs. This led to a dramatic increase in inequality in labor earnings during the pandemic. Simulating standard unemployment benefits and Unemployment …


Job Search And Hiring With Two-Sided Limited Information About Workseekers’ Skills, Eliana Carranza, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin, Neil Rankin Jun 2020

Job Search And Hiring With Two-Sided Limited Information About Workseekers’ Skills, Eliana Carranza, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin, Neil Rankin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We present field experimental evidence that limited information about workseekers’ skills distorts both firm and workseeker behavior. Assessing workseekers’ skills, giving workseekers their assessment results, and helping them to credibly share the results with firms increases workseekers’ employment and earnings. It also aligns their beliefs and search strategies more closely with their skills. Giving assessment results only to workseekers has similar effects on beliefs and search, but smaller effects on employment and earnings. Giving assessment results only to firms increases callbacks. These patterns are consistent with two-sided information frictions, a new finding that can inform design of information-provision mechanisms.