Date Approved
2023
Degree Type
Open Access Senior Honors Thesis
Department or School
Economics
First Advisor
Svetlana Beilfuss, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Amanda Stype, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Mehmet Yaya, Ph.D.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent shutdowns pushed many out of their jobs. In the US, there was a wide variety of economic and health system support provided by the states. Using data from Oxford University’s COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, this study attempts to find a relationship between the amount of financial support received by workers and current employment, hypothesizing that states that provided greater income and debt relief are now seeing less employment. This paper uses two different dependent variables, total employment, and restaurant employment. While controlling for population demographics and political leanings, we find that the effect of economic support on current employment is not statistically significant. The results suggest that support provided for the containment of the pandemic through the health system does positively impact current employment, albeit with decreasing effect as the support increases.
Recommended Citation
Lawless, Jason, "Effect of state COVID-19 policies on post-pandemic employment" (2023). Senior Honors Theses and Projects. 774.
https://commons.emich.edu/honors/774