Elsevier

Economics Letters

Volume 212, March 2022, 110310
Economics Letters

School reopenings, COVID-19, and employment

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2022.110310Get rights and content
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open access

Abstract

Using a panel of United States counties, this study compares outcomes before and during the 2020–2021 school year between locations that started K-12 instruction on campus, remotely, or through a hybrid approach. Corroborating recent studies, we find comparatively larger increases of COVID-19 cases and deaths in locations using any in-person instruction. Within the same empirical framework, we present robust new evidence that employment was unaffected by this choice, even in counties with more vulnerable populations. We posit that opening schools did not improve employment due to policy uncertainty, supported by the fact that one-quarter of schools changed teaching methods mid-year.

JEL classification

D78
H75
I18
J21

Keywords

Education policy
Public health
Labor supply

Cited by (0)

1

The conclusions and any errors in this paper are those of the authors. We have no material financial interests related to this research.