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Vacancy posting, firm balance sheets, and pandemic policy

firms
labour
vacancies
COVID-19

Van Dijcke, David, Marcus Buckmann, Arthur Turrell, and Tomas Key. “Vacancy Posting, Firm Balance Sheets, and Pandemic Policy Interventions.” Bank of England Staff Working Paper Series 1033 (2022).

Figure from paper
Authors
Affiliations

David Van Dijcke

University of Michigan

Marcus Buckmann

Bank of England

Arthur Turrell

Office for National Statistics

Tomas Key

Bank of England

Published

July 2023

Abstract

We assess how balance sheets propagated labour demand shocks during Covid-19 using novel matched data on firms and online job postings. Exploiting regional and firm-level variation in three pandemic policies in the UK, we find that financially healthy firms increased vacancies more in response to positive shocks. Less-leveraged firms and firms with higher credit scores increased postings more in response to the Eat Out to Help Out’s local demand subsidies and after receiving a Bounce Back Loan Scheme loan, respectively. These findings complement the link between leverage and employment losses in response to negative shocks.

BibTeX citation

@techreport{dijcke2023vacancy,
      title={Vacancy posting, firm balance sheets, and pandemic policy},
      author={David Van Dijcke and Marcus Buckmann and Arthur Turrell and Tomas Key},
      year={2023},
      institution={Bank of England Staff Working Paper Series},
      number={1033},
}