Labor demand in the time of COVID-19: Evidence from vacancy postings and UI claims.

ABSTRACT: We use job vacancy data collected in real time by Burning Glass Technologies, as well as unemployment insurance (UI) initial claims and the more traditional Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment data to study the impact of COVID-19 on the labor market. Our job vacancy data allow us to track the economy at disaggregated geography and by detailed occupation and industry. We find that job vacancies collapsed in the second half of March. By late April, they had fallen by over 40%. To a first approximation, this collapse was broad based, hitting all U.S. states, regardless of the timing of stay-at-home policies. UI claims and BLS employment data also largely match these patterns. Nearly all industries and occupations saw contraction in postings and spikes in UI claims, with little differe

SUBMITTER: Forsythe E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7357497 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature