Firing discrimination: Selective labor market responses of firms during the COVID-19 economic crisis.

ABSTRACT: The speed of the economic downturn in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has been exceptional, causing mass layoffs-in Germany up to 30% of the workforce in some industries. Economic rationale suggests that the decision on which workers are fired should depend on productivity-related individual factors. However, from hiring situations we know that discrimination-i.e., decisions driven by characteristics unrelated to productivity-is widespread in Western labor markets. Drawing on representative survey data on forced layoffs and short-time work collected in Germany between April and December 2020, this study highlights that discrimination against immigrants is also present in firing situations. The analysis shows that employees with a migration background are significantly more likely to lose

SUBMITTER: Auer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8803145 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature