2020/05/18 by Yonatan Berman, Berman, Yonatan
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Health Professions · Mathematics · #COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts #COVID-19 epidemiological studies #Employment and Welfare Studies #FOS: Economics and business #General Economics (econ.GN)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2005.08763
openalex publication_date 2020/05/18 · openalex created_date 2022/07/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper uses Bureau of Labor Statistics employment and wage data to study\nthe distributional impact of the COVID-19 crisis on wages in the United States\nby mid-April. It answers whether wages of lower-wage workers decreased more\nthan others', and to what extent. We find that the COVID-19 outbreak\nexacerbates existing inequalities. Workers at the bottom quintile in mid-March\nwere three times more likely to be laid off by mid-April compared to\nhigher-wage workers. Weekly wages of workers at the bottom quintile decreased\nby 6% on average between mid-February and mid-March and by 26% between\nmid-March and mid-April. The average decrease for higher quintiles was less\nthan 1% between mid-February and mid-March and about 10% between mid-March and\nmid-April. We also find that workers aged 16-24 were hit much harder than older\nworkers. Hispanic workers were also hurt more than other racial groups. Their\nwages decreased by 2-3 percentage points more than other workers' between\nmid-March and mid-April.\n