Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/243456 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Policy Paper No. 170
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We analyse the short-term impact of social distancing measures on the US labour market, using a panel threshold model with high frequency (weekly) data on unemployment across US states. We find that changes in the restrictiveness of mandated social distancing, as measured by the Oxford Stringency Index, exert a strong immediate impact on initial unemployment. The unemployment rate is not immediate affected but follows within a very short time (two to four weeks). We also document a substantial asymmetry between tightening and easing: the impact of tightening restrictions is twice as large as that of easing them. The state of the endemic, proxied either by cases or fatalities, constitutes a marginal factor.
Subjects: 
Corona pandemic
lockdown and unemployment
policy response
COVID-19
JEL: 
E00
I18
O11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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