Jobs’ amenability is not enough: The role of household inputs for safe work under social distancing in Latin American cities

Abstract

• We use a recent household survey with rich information for large urban areas in 11 Latin American countries to study the role of household inputs in the working arrangements that can protect workers and their families from the COVID-risk. • We show that the absence of some key home inputs introduces additional sources of inequality for teleworking, aside from those imposed by occupations, as well as it reinforces the association between economic development and the share of teleworkable jobs. • We also find that workers in jobs with higher exposure to the coronavirus have other health risks, implying that this type of inequality should be carefully taken into account when designing deconfinement measures. The recent literature has emphasized the role of occupations in quantifying the amount of telework possible under social distancing measures during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, telework requires not only a teleworkable occupation but also household inputs related to basic infrastructure (internet connection and other housing services) and time availability. We use a recent household survey that includes rich information for large urban areas in 11 Latin American countries and we find that these household inputs are not available for more vulnerable workers. This introduces additional sources of inequality in the possibility of working from home, aside from those imposed by occupations, as well as reinforces the association between economic development and the share of teleworkable jobs. We also analyze the profiles of workers in high personal-proximity jobs, which imply a higher exposure to the virus, and we find important additional sources of inequality. In particular, workers in jobs with higher exposure to the coronavirus also have other health risks, implying that this type of inequality should be carefully taken into account when designing deconfinement measures.