RAPID: Employer and Employee Behaviors, Experiences, and Perceptions of the Pandemic

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This research project will collect a large, high-frequency, longitudinal data set to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on labor market outcomes, financial well-being, and mental health across the US. COVID-19 is rapidly devastating the lives of Americans. The impacts are, and will continue to be uneven, affecting financially and psychologically vulnerable individuals, working parents, and service sector workers across space. The impacts extend beyond the direct physical health effects; the consequences of school and work closures affect labor supply and demand, financial health, mental health, and the global economy. Yet, very little is known about how the pandemic is affecting people’s financial as well as mental health. The researchers will use an existing platform to collect large data sets at regular and short intervals to study the effects of the pandemic on Americans. The results of this research project will contribute to our understanding of how pandemics affect mental and financial health of the vulnerable as well as provide inputs into policies to counter the effects of the pandemic. This does not only help shorten the projected recessions and improve the wellbeing of Americans but also establishes the United States as the global leader in countering the effects of the virus.This proposed research will attempt to trace the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the policy responses on labor market outcomes, and enhance our understanding of the links between employment, working conditions, financial well-being, and mental health. The PIs will collect longitudinal survey data over short intervals using the RAND American Life Panel (ALP) platform. The project will use the variation in the impact of the COVID-19 policy response by industry, occupation, and location to: measure the impact of employment/income loss on individuals’ financial well-being and mental health, investigate how working conditions mediate the effect of COVID-19 on financial well-being and mental health, study the extent to which worker routines have been disrupted, how these disruptions change over time, and examine how these disruptions affect financial well-being and mental health. The data collection of this project is superior to standard surveys which do not capture sufficient information about employers and employee behavior. A longitudinal survey that contemporaneously captures individuals’ changing labor market experiences and perceptions during the pandemic is necessary for understanding the causal links among COVDI-19 and labor market outcomes, financial wellbeing, and mental health. The results of this project will contribute to our understanding of how pandemics affect mental and financial health as well as provide inputs into policies to counter the effects of the pandemic. This does not only help shorten the projected recessions and improve the wellbeing of Americans but also establishes the United States as the global leader in countering the effects of the virus.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.