COVID-19 Infection and Its Labor Supply Impact: Evidence from a Large-scale Survey in Japan

Abstract

We conducted a large-scale retrospective survey to investigate how COVID-19 infection affected the labor outcomes of infected workers in Japan. Many infected workers—including those without any COVID-19 symptoms—experienced some reductions in hours worked or earnings immediately after infection. The negative labor impacts often lasted for more than a month. The negative labor impacts were particularly pronounced for contract workers, non-regular workers, workers without remote-work availability, and those unvaccinated. Our estimate based on the survey and other official statistics indicates that COVID-19 infection had a non-negligible negative impact on the aggregate labor supply in 2022.