Short-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Consumption and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Singapore

Seonghoon Kim (), Kanghyock Koh () and Xuan Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Kanghyock Koh: Korea University
Xuan Zhang: Goethe University Frankfurt

No 13354, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine the short-term impact of COVID-19 on consumption spending and labor market outcomes. Using monthly panel data of individuals mainly aged 50–70 in Singapore, we find that COVID-19 reduced consumption spending and labor market outcomes immediately after its outbreak, and its negative impact quickly evolved. At its peak, the pandemic reduced total household consumption spending by 22.8% and labor income by 5.9% in April. Probability of full-time work also went down by 1.2 pp and 6.0 pp in April and May, respectively, but employment and self-employment were only mildly affected. Our heterogeneity analysis indicates that the reduction in consumption spending was greater among those with higher net worth, while the decreases in labor market outcomes were greater among those with lower net worth. However, we find little evidence that those in worse health status experienced larger reductions in consumption spending and labor market outcomes. Reductions in consumption spending correlated with increased risk avoidance behavior, the nationwide partial lockdown, worsening economic outlook, and reduced income.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; consumption spending; labor market; monthly panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E2 H2 I12 J01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lab, nep-mac and nep-sea
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published in: Canadian Journal of Economics, 2022, 55 (Suppl. 1), 115–134.

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp13354.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13354

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().