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Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic

We analyze the task-content of occupations operating in about 600 sectors of the economy with a focus on the dimensions that expose workers to contagion risks during the COVID-19 epidemic. We do so in the Italian context, leveraging extremely detailed and granular information from ICP, the Italian e...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Barbieri, Teresa, Basso, Gaetano, Scicchitano, Sergio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8298199/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40797-021-00164-1
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author Barbieri, Teresa
Basso, Gaetano
Scicchitano, Sergio
author_facet Barbieri, Teresa
Basso, Gaetano
Scicchitano, Sergio
author_sort Barbieri, Teresa
collection PubMed
description We analyze the task-content of occupations operating in about 600 sectors of the economy with a focus on the dimensions that expose workers to contagion risks during the COVID-19 epidemic. We do so in the Italian context, leveraging extremely detailed and granular information from ICP, the Italian equivalent of O*Net (the survey that describes the task content of US occupations). We find that several sectors need physical proximity to operate, mainly in services and retail trade. Workers at risk of complications from COVID-19 (mainly males above the age of 50) are concentrated in sectors characterized by little physical proximity or where working from home is feasible. We then study the sectoral lockdowns put in place by the Italian Government in March 2020. We find that governmental restrictions hit the sectors where the risk of contagion in the workplace was more widespread: the effect is stronger for proximity to the public than that with co-workers. The share of workers who have the possibility to work from home is higher in sectors that were not forced to close. The evidence we provide is useful to identify which activities pose larger risks for contagion among workers in the workplace and where to reinforce safety measures. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40797-021-00164-1.
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spelling pubmed-82981992021-07-23 Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic Barbieri, Teresa Basso, Gaetano Scicchitano, Sergio Ital Econ J Research Paper We analyze the task-content of occupations operating in about 600 sectors of the economy with a focus on the dimensions that expose workers to contagion risks during the COVID-19 epidemic. We do so in the Italian context, leveraging extremely detailed and granular information from ICP, the Italian equivalent of O*Net (the survey that describes the task content of US occupations). We find that several sectors need physical proximity to operate, mainly in services and retail trade. Workers at risk of complications from COVID-19 (mainly males above the age of 50) are concentrated in sectors characterized by little physical proximity or where working from home is feasible. We then study the sectoral lockdowns put in place by the Italian Government in March 2020. We find that governmental restrictions hit the sectors where the risk of contagion in the workplace was more widespread: the effect is stronger for proximity to the public than that with co-workers. The share of workers who have the possibility to work from home is higher in sectors that were not forced to close. The evidence we provide is useful to identify which activities pose larger risks for contagion among workers in the workplace and where to reinforce safety measures. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40797-021-00164-1. Springer International Publishing 2021-07-23 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC8298199/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40797-021-00164-1 Text en © Società Italiana di Economia (Italian Economic Association) 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Research Paper
Barbieri, Teresa
Basso, Gaetano
Scicchitano, Sergio
Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic
title Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic
title_full Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic
title_fullStr Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic
title_full_unstemmed Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic
title_short Italian Workers at Risk During the COVID-19 Epidemic
title_sort italian workers at risk during the covid-19 epidemic
topic Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8298199/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40797-021-00164-1
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