Economic Shocks and Skill Acquisition. Evidence from a National Online Learning Platform at the Onset of COVID-19.

Autor/inn/en	Ganguli, Ina; Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim; Khwaja, Asim Ijaz; Stemper, Samuel W.; Zafar, Basit
Institution	National Bureau of Economic Research
Titel	Economic Shocks and Skill Acquisition. Evidence from a National Online Learning Platform at the Onset of COVID-19.
Quelle	Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research (2022), 76 S. PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	NBER working paper series. w29921
Beigaben	Illustrationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie; Graue Literatur
DOI	10.3386/w29921
Schlagwörter	Bildungsverhalten; Mediennutzung; Saudi-Arabien; Bildungsverhalten; Schock; E-Learning; Schock; Internetportal; E-Learning; Arbeitspapier; Saudi-Arabien
Abstract	We study how large shocks impact individuals' skilling decisions using data from the largest online learning platform in Saudi Arabia. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a massive increase in online skilling, and demand shifted towards courses that offered skills, such as telework, likely to be immediately valuable during the pandemic. Consistent with a model where individuals trade off reskilling costs with their expectations of future labor market conditions and their duration of work, we find that shifts into telework courses were largest for older workers. In contrast, younger workers increased enrollments in courses related to new skills, such as general, occupation-specific, and computer-related skills. Using national administrative employment data, we provide suggestive evidence that these investments in skills in early 2020 helped users maintain employment over the course of the pandemic.
Erfasst von	ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel
Update	2023/1