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During the COVID-19 pandemic, labour-force survey non-response rates have surged in many countries. We show that in the case of the Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS), the bulk of this increase is due to the suspension of in-person interviews following the adoption of telework within Federal agencies, including Statistics Canada. Individuals with vulnerabilities to the COVID-19 economic shock have been harder to reach and have been gradually less and less represented in the LFS during the pandemic. We present evidence suggesting that the decline in employment and labour-force participation have been underestimated over the March-July 2020 period. We argue that these non-response issues are moderate when analyzing aggregate outcomes, but that researchers should exert caution when gauging the robustness of estimates for subgroups. We discuss practical implications for research based on the LFS, such as the consequences for panels and the choice of public-use versus master files of the LFS.
Pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, le taux de non-réponse aux enquêtes auprès de la population active a explosé dans beaucoup de pays. Nous montrons que dans le cas de l'Enquête canadienne sur la population active (EPA), le gros de cette hausse s'explique par la suspension des entrevues en personne qui a suivi l'adoption du télétravail dans les agences fédérales, y compris à Statistique Canada. Les personnes vulnérables au choc économique de la COVID-19 ont été plus difficiles à joindre et ont été de moins en moins représentées dans l'EPA au cours de la pandémie. Nous montrons, preuves à l'appui, que la diminution de l'emploi et de la participation à la main-d'Åuvre est sous-estimée pour la période de mars à juillet 2020. Nous soutenons que la gravité de ces problèmes de non-réponses est modérée quand il s'agit d'analyser des résultats agrégés mais que la prudence s'impose dans l'évaluation de la robustesse des estimations pour les sous-groupes. Nous présentons les conséquences pratiques de cette situation pour les travaux qui reposent sur l'EPA, telles que les effets sur les panels et le choix entre données à grande diffusion et fichiers principaux de l'EPA.
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PurposeThis article contributes to the debate on how social policies and labour market regulation have been used to limit the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic by focusing on one specific economic segment of European labour markets: private consumption services, such as trade, tourism, catering and other support services.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis combines mixed methods and a variety of sources. First, we built a set of indicators from the EU-LFS microdata for 2019 and the 2018 Eurostat "Structure of earnings survey” and performed a cluster analysis (k-means) on the dimensions and indicators considered. Second, we elaborated EU-LFS data covering 2019 and 2020 (by quarter) and OECD 2020 data, and finally we traced Covid-related policy reforms for the period March 2020–December 2021 and analysed documents and information collected in different policy repositories.FindingsThe paper shows the relevance and characteristics of private consumption services in different countries, demonstrating that so-called labour market "outsiders” are highly represented in this sector and illustrates the policies adopted to respond to the pandemic in different European countries. The paper asks whether this emergency has been a window of opportunity to redefine regulation in this sector, making it more inclusive. It demonstrates, however, that the common approach in Europe has been dominated by temporary, short-term and one-off measures, which do not represent major changes to the social security schemes that were in place before the pandemic.Originality/valueThis article builds on the literature on labour market dualization, but approaches the concept from a different perspective – one not centred on the nature of employment relations (stable/unstable) but on economic sectors/branches. This article does not, therefore, discuss in general terms what happened to labour market outsiders during the pandemic, but rather focus attention on a specific group of workers who are highly exposed to risks stemming from dualization: those employed in the private consumption services. The economic sector perspective is an integrative way of framing dualization which is still under-researched.
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This study evaluates the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourists' length of stay and daily expenditures at a destination. The paper compares detailed microdata for visitors to a Northern Spanish region in the summer periods of 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (after the pandemic outbreak). We estimate the pandemic-induced impacts on the length of stay and expenditures per person for several categories using regression adjustment, inverse probability weighting regression and propensity score matching. We find clear evidence of a drop in the length of stay of around 1.26 nights, representing a 23.8% decline. We also show that, although total expenditures per person and day have remained constant, there has been a change in the allocations for categories in the tourism budget.
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La pandémie de COVID-19 a bouleversé notre façon de vivre et de travailler. Au Canada, le fossé entre les sexes en matiere d'emploi chez les parents de jeunes enfants s'est considérablement enforcé pendant la pandémie. Les études antérieures, cependant, examinent les parents au Canada sans distinction de leur statut d'immigrant, bien que les parents immigrants et les parents nés au Canada puissent avoir des expériences travail-famille différentes. Dans cette étude, nous examinons comment le croisement des statuts de parent et d'immigrant a influencé l'évolution des écarts d'emploi entre les sexes pendant la pandémie. En nous servant des micro-données de l'enquete sur la main-d'œuvre (EMŒ) de mars 2019 â février 2021, nous examinons la probabilité d'emploi selon le sexe, le statut parental et le statut d'immigrant. Si l'on compare la période de fermeture des écoles (mars â aoÛt 2020) aux mėmes mois de 2019 (avant la pandémie), les femmes immigrées, quel que soit leur statut parental, ont connu des baisses d'emploi plus importantes que leurs homologues masculins et que les non-immigrants, et le fossé entre les sexes s'est le plus creusé chez les immigrants récents ayant des enfants d'âge scolaire. Lorsque les écoles ont progressivement rouvert (de septembre 2020 â février 2021), l'emploi s'est rétabli plus rapidement pour les meres récemment immigrées que pour celles établies. Dans l'ensemble, nos résultats montrent que, parmi les parents de jeunes enfants, l'écart croissant entre les sexes en matiere d'emploi pendant la pandémie était concentré parmi les immigrants, les meres immigrantes étant désavantagées de maniere disproportionnée. Cette étude met en lumiere la façon dont la pandémie a exacerbé les inégalités intersectionnelles fondées sur le sexe, la parentalité et le statut d'immigrant.Alternate abstract:The COVID-19 pandemic has upended how we live and work. In Canada, the gender gap In employment among parents with young children widened substantially during the pandemic. Previous studies, however, examine parents in Canada without distinguishing them by immigrant status, although immigrant versus Canadian-born parents may have distinct work-family experiences. In this study, we investigate how the intersection of parental and immigrant statuses influenced change in gender employment gaps during the pandemic. Drawing on Labor Force Survey (LFS) microdata from March 2019 to February 2021, we examine the probability of employment by gender, parental status, and immigrant status. When comparing the school closure period (March to August 2020) relative to the same months in 2019 (pre-pandemic), immigrant women, irrespective of parental status, witnessed larger declines in employment than their male counterparts and nonimmigrants, and the gender gap widened the most among recent immigrants with school-aged children. When schools gradually reopened (September 2020 to February 2021), employment recovered faster for recent than established immigrant mothers. Overall, our findings show that among parents of young children, the growing gender gap in employment during the pandemic was concentrated among immigrants, with immigrant mothers disproportionately disadvantaged. This study illuminates how the pandemic exacerbated intersectional inequalities based on gender, parenthood, and immigrant status.
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This paper investigates the effect of parents' coproduction in online schooling on satisfaction with educational services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using European cross country microdata from the 2020 Eurofound survey, we reveal that parents' involvement in home schooling is strongly correlated with their satisfaction with educational services. Our results contribute to the on-going debate regarding the importance of citizens' involvement in service delivery during the pandemic, and, in particular, on the related effects in terms of subjective satisfaction.
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This research examines how deep travel habits in the form of habit formation and reduced substitutability between tourism travel and other leisure goods impact travel resilience after COVID-19. Using microdata for almost 3000 tourists in Andalusia (Spain), we relate post-pandemic outbreak tourism participation to pre-pandemic travelling intensity and whether taking a vacation is considered a priority good. In doing so, we control for standard sociodemographic characteristics and province fixed effects. Our results clearly show that the probability of continuing travelling during the summer of 2020 is positively associated with pre-pandemic travel intensity and tourism being considered a priority leisure activity. Travel resilience is found to be strongly associated with income, education level and the tenure of a second residence.
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The research aims to examine the vulnerability and resilience of road transport enterprises in Poland to a crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In theory, we refer to the Schumpeterian perspective of creative destruction. In the empirical analysis, survey data on 500 transport companies randomly selected from the database were used. We estimated partial proportional odds models to show the factors responsible for the enterprises' vulnerability and resilience to unforeseen shock. The perspective refers to the total sample size and the division into two subgroups: micro and small and medium enterprises. To justify the results, we calculated a set of statistical indicators and tests. These models enable separating enterprises according to the vulnerability level. Transport enterprises occurred significantly vulnerable to the COVID-19 crisis, particularly the demand shock. The only factor that influenced resilience was the decrease in fuel prices, which allowed a cost reduction. The crisis showed that government aid was helpful in the short run, particularly for micro and small enterprises. The medium-sized enterprises were more resilient than micro and small ones. We formulated several recommendations to help transport enterprises to adjust in the medium term.
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Trust in the European Central Bank (ECB) is vital. However, little is known about trust in the ECB during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use the rich pilot microdata from the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey during 2020–2021 on six key euro area countries to shed light on trust in the ECB during the pandemic. Our findings suggest that there is ample room to improve consumers' trust in the ECB. Personal COVID-19 experiences play a role: respondents who reduced the number of hours worked due to COVID-19 have lower trust in the ECB than those with unchanged working hours. Trust in the ECB varies within countries. It is highest among males and people with a good financial situation. It increases with financial knowledge, education, income, and wealth.
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The aim is to construct a country-dimension knowledge graph of COVID-19 vaccines from the information of COVID-19 vaccines and to analyze the leading countries of vaccine R&D by combining the advantages of easy operation and intuitive feeling of knowledge graph visualization, to provide a reference for Chinese vaccine R&D departments and international cooperation. In this paper, through data collection, based on entity extraction and relationship construction, a knowledge graph of country dimensions was established by specifying the central vaccine R&D countries and vaccine distribution, and multidimensional microdata such as word frequency and betweenness centrality were combined to analyze the national characteristics of the COVID-19 vaccine. The analysis of the knowledge graph of the country dimension of the COVID-19 vaccine shows that countries with robust technology and economies, such as the US and China, choose to develop vaccine distribution independently, countries with advanced economies, such as Saudi Arabia, decide to purchase vaccine distribution, and less developed countries, such as South Africa and Latin America, need international aid for vaccines or purchase low-cost vaccines. This paper constructs the correlation between nodes and nodes of the COVID-19 vaccine with the help of a knowledge graph, systematically and comprehensively reveals the research mainstay and distribution model of the COVID-19 vaccine from the national level, and provides rationalized suggestions for international cooperation in vaccine R&D in China. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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In the monthly ifo Business Survey, around 9000 companies answer questions about their current business situation, expectations, and plans for the near future as well as on other business variables. Beyond the regular questions, ifo has also the possibility to include supplementary questions into the survey. These questions may be prompted by the intention to obtain an ad hoc picture of the effects of certain developments in economic policy on the companies and their reactions to them (e.g. the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine). Another reason is the collection of data for research projects. This article gives an overview of all supplementary questions since 2009 through May 2022. It intends to show examples of the use of the obtained data and can be used as a guide for future research projects. Researchers can work with the firm-level microdata of supplementary and regular survey questions at the LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center.
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A geographic perspective is essential in tackling COVID-19. This research study is framed in the collaboration project set up by the University of Cantabria, the Valdecilla Hospital Research Institute (IDIVAL) and the Regional Government of Cantabria. The case study is the Santander functional urban area (FUA), which is considered from a multi-scale perspective. The main source is the daily records of micro-data on COVID-19 cases and the methodology is based on ESRI geotechnologies, and more specifically on a tool called SITAR (a Spanish acronym which stands for Fast-Action Territorial Information System). The main goal is to analyse and contribute to knowledge of the spatial patterns of COVID-19 at neighbourhood level from a space-time perspective. To that end the research is based on data mining methods (3D bins and emerging hot-spots) and exploratory geo-statistical analysis (Global Moran's Index, Nearest Neighbourhood and Ordinary Least Square analyses, among others). The study identifies space-time patterns that show significant hot-spots and demonstrates a high presence of the virus at building level in neighbourhoods where residential and economic uses are mixed. Knowing the spatial behaviour of the virus is strategically important for proposing geo-prevention keys, reducing spread and balancing trade-offs between potential health gains and economic burdens resulting from interventions to deal with the pandemic.
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The concept of neighborhood contagion focus is defined and justified as a basic spatial unit for epidemiological diagnosis and action, and a specific methodological procedure is provided to detect and map focuses and micro-focuses of contagion without using regular or artificial spatial units. The starting hypothesis is that the contagion in urban spaces manifests unevenly in the form of clusters of cases that are generated and developed by neighborhood contagion. Methodologically, the spatial distribution of those infected in the study area, the city of Málaga (Spain), is firstly analyzed from the disaggregated and anonymous address information. After defining the concept of neighborhood contagion focus and justifying its morphological parameters, a method to detect and map neighborhood contagion focus in urban settings is proposed and applied to the study case. As the main results, the existence of focuses and micro-focuses in the spatial pattern of contagion is verified. Focuses are considered as an ideal spatial analysis unit, and the advantages and potentialities of the use of mapping focus as a useful tool for health and territorial management in different phases of the epidemic are shown.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Cities , Humans , Residence Characteristics , SARS-CoV-2 , Spain/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Several studies on spatial patterns of COVID-19 show huge differences depending on the country or region under study, although there is some agreement that socioeconomic factors affect these phenomena. The aim of this paper is to increase the knowledge of the socio-spatial behavior of coronavirus and implementing a geospatial methodology and digital system called SITAR (Fast Action Territorial Information System, by its Spanish acronym). We analyze as a study case a region of Spain called Cantabria, geocoding a daily series of microdata coronavirus records provided by the health authorities (Government of Cantabria-Spain) with the permission of Medicines Ethics Committee from Cantabria (CEIm, June 2020). Geocoding allows us to provide a new point layer based on the microdata table that includes cases with a positive result in a COVID-19 test. Regarding general methodology, our research is based on Geographical Information Technologies using Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Technologies. This tool is a global reference for spatial COVID-19 research, probably due to the world-renowned COVID-19 dashboard implemented by the Johns Hopkins University team. In our analysis, we found that the spatial distribution of COVID-19 in urban locations presents a not random distribution with clustered patterns and density matters in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, large metropolitan areas or districts with a higher number of persons tightly linked together through economic, social, and commuting relationships are the most vulnerable to pandemic outbreaks, particularly in our case study. Furthermore, public health and geoprevention plans should avoid the idea of economic or territorial stigmatizations. We hold the idea that SITAR in particular and Geographic Information Technologies in general contribute to strategic spatial information and relevant results with a necessary multi-scalar perspective to control the pandemic.