Fear of Going Back to Work and Work from Home: Assessing the Employment Allocation under COVID-19

Abstract

We estimate a reduced form of employment at the COVID time through a simple labor market equilibrium that accounts for workers possibly fearing work on-site (FOG) and for firms’ strategies such as work from home (WFH). Employment estimates on the French market demonstrate that work allocation during COVID-19 has been affected by FOG and WFH and is affected by both a variety of risks besides health risk, induced by the pandemic. In general, it confirms that employment dynamics may lead to some clear divide based on the health and socio-economics of the working-age population.