Urban labour market resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic: what is the promise of teleworking?

Abstract

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic caused immense labour market turbulences and a large-scale turn towards teleworking. This paper contributes to the understanding of how teleworking shapes regional economic outcomes by focusing on labour market resilience in US cities during the 2020 Covid-19 emergency. It examines employment and labour demand and finds that the share of teleworkable jobs is linked to stronger employment resilience, and enhances labour demand resilience during the onset of the pandemic and in smaller cities. The paper discusses possible mechanisms and policies that can help leverage the promise of teleworking for resilient labour markets.