COVID-19 Pandemic and Changes in Employer Skill Requirements: Evidence from the US.
Published:
Abstract: Using online job vacancy data, I study how the dramatic local employment shock due to the pandemic changed labor demand and how the COVID-19 pandemic differs from the impact of the Great Recession on the labor market. I find that the downskilling of education and experience requirements during the pandemic sharply contrasts with persistent upskilling after the Great Recession. The downskilling effects are more prevalent in industries with traded products and routine-manual jobs such as healthcare, logistics, retail, and construction. Labor shortages promote job automation and downskilling, and firms’ adoption of new technologies and workers’ acquisition of new skills are concentrated on practical skills such as Business Systems, Data Analysis, Specialized Software, and ML/AI, rather than formal education degrees, during the pandemic.