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IT Shields: Technology Adoption and Economic Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

We study the labor market effects of information technology (IT) during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, using data on IT adoption covering almost three million establishments in the US. We find that in areas where firms had adopted more IT before the pandemic, the unemployment rate rose less in response to social distancing. IT shields all individuals, regardless of gender and race, except those with the lowest educational attainment. Instrumental variable estimates–leveraging historical routine employment share as a booster of IT adoption– confirm IT had a causal impact on fostering labor markets’ resilience. Additional evidence suggests this shielding effect is due to the easiness of working-from-home and to stronger creation of digital jobs in high IT areas.

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  • Myrto Oikonomou & Nicola Pierri & Yannick Timmer, 2023. "IT Shields: Technology Adoption and Economic Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-010, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2023-10
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2023.010
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    Cited by:

    1. Doerr, S. & Erdem, M. & Franco, G. & Gambacorta, L. & Illes, A., 2021. "Technological capacity and firms’ recovery from Covid-19," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    2. Sarra Ben Yahmed & Francesco Berlingieri & Eduard Brüll, 2024. "Local Labour Market Resilience: The Role of Digitalisation and Working from Home," CESifo Working Paper Series 11114, CESifo.
    3. Joël Cariolle & Florian Léon, 2022. "How internet helped firms to cope with COVID-19," Working Papers hal-03592617, HAL.
    4. Kuhn, Moritz & Luo, Jinfeng & Manovskii, Iourii & Qiu, Xincheng, 2023. "Coordinated firm-level work processes and macroeconomic resilience," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 107-127.
    5. Ganguli, Ina & Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim & Khwaja, Asim Ijaz & Stemper, Samuel & Zafar, Basit, 2024. "Economic shocks and skill acquisition: Evidence from a national online learning platform at the onset of COVID-19," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Juliana Oliveira-Cunha & Capucine Riom & Anna Valero, 2021. "The business response to Covid-19 one year on: findings from the second wave of the CEP-CBI survey on technology adoption," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-024, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Copestake, Alexander & Estefania-Flores, Julia & Furceri, Davide, 2024. "Digitalization and resilience," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    8. Philippe Askenazy & Clément Brébion & Pierre Courtioux & Christine Erhel & Malo Mofakhami, 2023. "HRM Strategies in Response to the First Covid Lockdown: a Typology of French Workplaces," CEPN Working Papers hal-03953817, HAL.
    9. Karen Mossberger & Nicholas F. Martini & Meredith McCullough & Caroline J. Tolbert, 2023. "Digital economic activity and resilience for metros and small businesses during Covid-19," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1699-1717, April.
    10. Koski, Heli & Fornaro, Paolo, 2024. "Digitalization and Resilience: Data Assets and Firm Productivity Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic," ETLA Working Papers 113, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    11. Pierri, Nicola & Timmer, Yannick, 2022. "The importance of technology in banking during a crisis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 88-104.
    12. Trunschke, Markus & Peters, Bettina & Czarnitzki, Dirk & Rammer, Christian, 2024. "Pandemic effects: Do innovation activities of firms suffer from Long COVID?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(7).
    13. Gathmann, Christina & Kagerl, Christian & Pohlan, Laura & Roth, Duncan, 2024. "The pandemic push: Digital technologies and workforce adjustments," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Kasra Khademorezaian & Georgia Kosmopoulou & Shane Connelly & Mark Fichtel & Yash Gujar & Heshan Sun, 2023. "Technology use, work adaptation, and economic vulnerability during COVID‐19," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(1), pages 31-43, July.
    15. Alex Chernoff & Gabriela Galassi, 2023. "Digitalization: Labour Markets," Discussion Papers 2023-16, Bank of Canada.
    16. Dadoukis, Aristeidis & Fiaschetti, Maurizio & Fusi, Giulia, 2021. "IT adoption and bank performance during the Covid-19 pandemic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    17. Ionel Bostan & Alic Bîrcă, 2024. "Engagement of Moldovan Organizations in Increasing Employment through Flexible Work Arrangements," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2024(3), pages 95-122.
    18. Wang, Xueli & Wang, Lei & Zhang, Xuerong & Fan, Fei, 2022. "The spatiotemporal evolution of COVID-19 in China and its impact on urban economic resilience," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    19. Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Berlingieri, Francesco & Brüll, Eduard, 2022. "Adjustments of local labour markets to the COVID-19 crisis: The role of digitalisation and working-from-home," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-031, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment Rate; Technology; IT Adoption; Inequality; Skill-Biased Technical Change;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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