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Vacancy posting, firm balance sheets, and pandemic policy

Author

Listed:
  • Van Dijcke, David

    (Department of Economics, University of Michigan)

  • Buckmann, Marcus

    (Bank of England)

  • Turrell, Arthur

    (Data Science Campus, Office for National Statistics)

  • Key, Tomas

    (Bank of England)

Abstract

We assess how balance sheets propagated labour demand shocks during Covid-19 using novel matched data on firms and online job postings. Exploiting regional and firm-level variation in three pandemic policies in the UK, we find that financially healthy firms increased vacancies more in response to positive shocks. Less-leveraged firms and firms with higher credit scores increased postings more in response to the Eat Out to Help Out’s local demand subsidies and after receiving a Bounce Back Loan Scheme loan, respectively. These findings complement the link between leverage and employment losses in response to negative shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Van Dijcke, David & Buckmann, Marcus & Turrell, Arthur & Key, Tomas, 2023. "Vacancy posting, firm balance sheets, and pandemic policy," Bank of England working papers 1033, Bank of England.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:boeewp:1033
    as

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    File URL: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/working-paper/2023/vacancy-posting-firm-balance-sheets-and-pandemic-policy.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; recession; vacancies; Indeed; job postings; job ads; heterogeneity; firm; firm-level; balance sheets; industry; big data; alternative data; labour market; natural language processing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C50 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - General
    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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