IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/imfecr/v73y2025i1d10.1057_s41308-024-00246-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Did the Covid-19 Recession Increase the Demand for Digital Occupations in the USA? Evidence from Employment and Vacancies Data

Author

Listed:
  • Jiaming Soh

    (University of Michigan)

  • Myrto Oikonomou

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Carlo Pizzinelli

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Ippei Shibata

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Marina M. Tavares

    (International Monetary Fund)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether Covid-19 increased the demand for digital occupations in the United States. Using O*NET data to capture the occupations’ digital content, we find that the digital share of employment and vacancies increased more in regions that were hit harder during the pandemic. However, this was driven by a smaller decline in employment and vacancies for digital occupations relative to non-digital ones, and not by an absolute increase in demand for digital workers. While digital occupations were more insulated, particularly in urban areas and cognitive occupations, there is little evidence of a permanent shift.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiaming Soh & Myrto Oikonomou & Carlo Pizzinelli & Ippei Shibata & Marina M. Tavares, 2025. "Did the Covid-19 Recession Increase the Demand for Digital Occupations in the USA? Evidence from Employment and Vacancies Data," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 73(1), pages 316-337, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:imfecr:v:73:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41308-024-00246-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41308-024-00246-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41308-024-00246-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41308-024-00246-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:imfecr:v:73:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41308-024-00246-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.