DOES WORKER WELL-BEING ADAPT TO A PANDEMIC? AN EVENT STUDY BASED ON HIGH-FREQUENCY PANEL DATA

Schmidtke J, Hetschko C, Schöb R, Stephan G, Eid M, Lawes M (2023)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Review of Income and Wealth Wiley-Blackwell

DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12668

Abstract

We estimate the dynamic impact of two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic on an exceptionally broad range of indicators of worker well-being. Our analyses are based on high-frequency panel data from an app-based survey of German workers and employ an event-study design with individual-specific fixed effects. We find that workers' mental health decreased substantially during the first wave of the pandemic. To a smaller extent, this is also true for life satisfaction and momentary happiness. Most well-being indicators converged to prepandemic levels when infection rates declined. During the second wave of the pandemic, overall worker well-being decreased less than that during the first wave. Life satisfaction does not seem to have changed at all. We conclude that worker well-being adapts to the pandemic. Moreover, subgroup analyses indicate that, in terms of well-being, workers who took part in a job retention scheme fared less well during the pandemic than other employees.

Authors with CRIS profile

Gesine Stephan

Involved external institutions

Freie Universität Berlin DE Germany (DE) Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) DE Germany (DE) University of Leeds GB United Kingdom (GB)

How to cite

APA:

Schmidtke, J., Hetschko, C., Schöb, R., Stephan, G., Eid, M., & Lawes, M. (2023). DOES WORKER WELL-BEING ADAPT TO A PANDEMIC? AN EVENT STUDY BASED ON HIGH-FREQUENCY PANEL DATA. Review of Income and Wealth. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12668

MLA:

Schmidtke, Julia, et al. "DOES WORKER WELL-BEING ADAPT TO A PANDEMIC? AN EVENT STUDY BASED ON HIGH-FREQUENCY PANEL DATA." Review of Income and Wealth (2023).

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