The Impact of Automation and the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Labor Market and the Causes of the Great Resignation

Date: 

Monday, October 31, 2022, 10:15am to 11:30am

Location: 

Weil Hall (Belfer L1) / Zoom (registration information below)

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: R. Maria del Rio Chanona, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Complexity Science Hub Vienna

Abstract: In the first part of this talk, we present a non-equilibrium and data-driven network model for understanding how workers adapt to changes in labor demand. In this model, workers move through an empirically derived occupational mobility network in response to automation scenarios. We find that the network structure is essential in determining unemployment levels, with occupations in particular areas of the network having few job transition opportunities. In the second part, we discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the economy and how it led to the Great Resignation (i.e., the U.S. record high quit rates reached 2021) in the longer term. We use Reddit data and text analysis to show that mental health concerns have increased among the job quitting discourse since the start of the pandemic, likely contributing to the rise in quits.

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
 

R. Maria del Rio ChanonaAbout the speaker:

Maria del Rio-Chanona has been a JSMF (James S. McDonnell Foundation) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna since June 2021 and affiliate at the Growth Lab at Harvard University’s Center for International Development (CID) for the Fall semester 2022. Maria has a PhD in mathematics from Oxford University, where she was part of the complexity economics group of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford Martin School. She has worked alongside international policy organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organisation. Maria did her undergraduate studies in physics at UNAM, Mexico. Maria’s research draws from network science, natural language processing, and agent-based modeling and focuses on the future of work, green transition, Great Resignation, and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.