The impact of COVID-19 on the decomposition of teleworkability-based wage differentials among Philippine occupations
Date
2023-07
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Abstract
With reduced mobility and restrictions on physical activities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking, defined as work performed away from the employer through information and communication technology, emerged as an alternative setup for many industries. Using Philippine Labor Force Survey data from 2019 and 2020, this study aims to measure the pandemic-induced wage inequality between teleworkable and non-teleworkable occupations. Furthermore, we employ the
Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition, a three-component method that decomposes wage differentials between the two groups and across time. Our findings show that teleworkability-based wage differentials increased during the second and
third quarters of 2020, at the height of the lockdown measures imposed by the Philippine government. Wage differentials in 2020 were primarily influenced by the differences in the effects of explanatory variables or group characteristics of teleworkers and non-teleworkers, implying that wage discrimination against non-
teleworkers worsened during the pandemic.
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Keywords
COVID-19, pandemic, technology, remote work, remote work, manual work, wage, wage diffential, wage inequality, wage discrimination