Hours and income dynamics during the Covid-19 pandemic: The case of the Netherlands

Abstract

Using customized panel data spanning the entire year of 2020, we analyze the dynamics of working hours and household income across different stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar to many other countries, during this period the Netherlands experienced a quick spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, adopted a set of fairly strict social distancing measures, gradually reopened, and imposed another lockdown to contain the second wave. We show that socio-economic status is strongly related to changes in working hours, especially when strict economic restrictions are in place. In contrast, household income is equally unaffected for all socio-economic groups. Examining the drivers of these observations, we find that pandemic-specific job characteristics (the ability to work from home and essential worker status) help explain the socio-economic gradient in total working hours. Household income is largely decoupled from shocks to working hours for employees. We provide suggestive evidence that large-scale labor hoarding schemes have helped insure employees against shocks to their employees.

Remote work and the COVID-19 pandemic: An artificial intelligence-based topic modeling and a future agenda

“…They further noted that 42% of these redundancies are likely to result in long-term unemployment ( Barrero et al, 2020 ). More specifically, job losses have been high for jobs that cannot be performed remotely ( Zimpelmann et al, 2021 ). Therefore, individuals who work in low-skilled, non-essential jobs or occupations that cannot be performed from home are at higher risk of having their employment terminated ( Adams-Prassl et al, 2020 , Lopes and Carreira, 2021 , Bradley et al, 2021 ).…”

Mobility in pandemic times: Exploring changes and long-term effects of COVID-19 on urban mobility behavior

“…The share of workers in Germany that mostly or always work from home increased from 4% before the pandemic to an interim peak of 27% during the first lockdown ( Ahlers et al, 2021 ). Researchers examining trips in the Netherlands, found the total amount of work hours during the first lockdown to have been spent in equal shares at the workplace and at home ( Zimpelmann et al, 2021 ). Job losses, particularly experienced among self-employed workers in the service sector ( Block et al, 2021 ), and employees in short-time work, also contributed to reduced physical mobility demands.…”

Income Analysis of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Indonesia

“…According to the Indonesian Statistics (BPS), the number of working hours is the length of time hours used for work of all jobs, excluding official work breaks and working hours used for activities outside of work during the week. The higher the working hours or time allocation we give to open a business, the higher the probability of turnover received by merchants, so that the welfare of merchants will be more maintained and can meet the needs of the merchant's family (Zimpelmann et al, 2021). Working hours are the length of time used to run a business, starting from preparation to the business closing.…”

“…The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the management of working hours, total workforce, the education level, the use of information technology, and philanthropy from the government to MSEs. Zimpelmann et al (2021) uncovered that working hours can affect income. Other studies explained that the number of hours worked significantly affects workforce productivity (Vallo and Mashau, 2020).…”