When Face-to-Face Interactions Become an Occupational Hazard
There is a crisis of demand brewing around the globe as social distancing becomes the norm to counter the COVID-19 outbreak. So, which parts of the economy are most in the line of fire? Looking at jobs that can be done at home or that require a high degree of face-to-face interactions with consumers can capture complementary but distinct mechanisms to assess this vulnerability. This paper uses data on 900 job titles from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database for the United States to demonstrate that there is substantial heterogeneity in vulnerability across industries, income groups, and gender. First, industries vary in whether they emphasize face-to-face interactions and home-based work and the two do not always go hand-in-hand. Second, occupations that are less amenable to home-based work are largely concentrated among the lower wage deciles. Third, a larger share of women's employment is accounted for by occupations that are intensive in face-to-face interactions.
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020-05
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| Subjects: | CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTION, HOME-BASED WORK, OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT, INEQUALITY, GENDER, WORKPLACE CONDITIONS, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/173701589222966874/When-Face-to-Face-Interactions-Become-an-Occupational-Hazard-Jobs-in-the-Time-of-COVID-19 https://hdl.handle.net/10986/33752 |
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| Summary: | There is a crisis of demand brewing
around the globe as social distancing becomes the norm to
counter the COVID-19 outbreak. So, which parts of the
economy are most in the line of fire? Looking at jobs that
can be done at home or that require a high degree of
face-to-face interactions with consumers can capture
complementary but distinct mechanisms to assess this
vulnerability. This paper uses data on 900 job titles from
the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database for
the United States to demonstrate that there is substantial
heterogeneity in vulnerability across industries, income
groups, and gender. First, industries vary in whether they
emphasize face-to-face interactions and home-based work and
the two do not always go hand-in-hand. Second, occupations
that are less amenable to home-based work are largely
concentrated among the lower wage deciles. Third, a larger
share of women's employment is accounted for by
occupations that are intensive in face-to-face interactions. |
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