Policy & Impact
COVID-19 and Local Labour Markets
The Covid-19 shutdown is not affecting all parts of the UK equally. Economic activity in local consumer service industries, such as retail outlets, restaurants, hairdressers, or gardeners has all but stopped; other industries are less affected. These differences among industries and their varying importance across local economies means recovery will be sensitive to local economic conditions and will not be geographically uniform: some neighbourhoods face a higher recovery risk of not being able to return to pre-shutdown levels of economic activity. In this project we study and identify the unique risks that Covid-19 pose to the local consumer service industry in urban centres across the UK.
This project received funding through the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/V004913/1).
Academic Papers
Teleworking: Spatial Analysis and Well Being, J. Matheson and A. Sakalis. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. (2023)
How the rise of teleworking will reshape labor markets and cities, T. Gokan, S. Kichko, J. Matheson, J.F. Thisse . CESifo Working Paper No. 9952. (2022)
How important is neighbourhood labour structure in the spread of COVID-19? Within-city evidence from England, C. Corradini, J. Matheson, and E. Vanino. Sheffield Economics Research Papers, number 2022011. (2022)
Remote working and the new geography of local service spending, G. De Fraja, J. Matheson, P. Mizen, J. Rockey, and S. Taneja. Centre for Economic Policy Research, Discussion Paper 17431 . (2022)
Covid reallocation of spending: The effect of remote working on the retail and hospitality sector, G. De Fraja, J. Matheson, P. Mizen, J. Rockey, S. Taneja, and G. Thwaites. Sheffield Economics Research Paper Series, number 2021006. (2021)
Zoomshock: The geography and local labour market consequences of working from home, G. De Fraja, J. Matheson and J. Rockey. Covid Economics: Vetted and Real-Time Papers. 64 (2021), 1-41.
Data
Data reflecting zoomshock and work-from-home calculations for middle super output areas in England and Wales are available here: Public Data. These data files are created from publicly available data (which can be accessed through Nomis), calculations may differ from those in the paper (using the secure Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings microdata). Link also includes access to replication files.
Zoomshock Dashboard, hosted by Metro Dynamics.
Articles based on academic work
"Teleworking will reshape labour markets and cities", VoxEU, 6 December 2022.
"Remote working and the new geography of local service spending", Vox EU, 17 November 2022.
"What does remote working mean for regional economies in the UK?", Economics Observatory, 04 February 2022.
"Zoomshock: how is working from home affecting cities and suburbs?", Economics Observatory, 15 February 2021.
"The geography of working from home and the implications for the service industry.", Vox EU, 11 February 2021.
"Five charts that reveal how remote working could change the UK.", The Conversation, 2 February 2021.
Written evidence to Parliamentary Committee on how the Covid-19 pandemic will impact cities and towns.
Media coverage
The Sheffield Tribune (17/01/22), The National Business (14/12/21), The Sheffield Star (13/12/21), The Times (10/12/21), Daily Express (10/12/21), Yorkshire Post (10/12/21), Daily Mail (10/12/21), The Telegraph (10/12/21), BBC (10/12/21), The National News (10/12/21), Health Europa (10/12/21), Business Link (10/12/21), iNews (09/10/21), Local Authority Building & Mantinance (05/10/21), The National News (16/08/21), The Irish Times (14/08/21), iNews (13/08/21), The Times (22/03/20; 20/06/20), NewStatesman (12/04/21), Telegraph (28/04/21), LocalGov (08/03/21), The National (14/02/21), Forbes (16/02/21), Institute of Economic Affairs (29/01/21), Urban Fusions, About Manchester, The Hankyoreh (South Korea), Berliner Zeitung, Estadao, CAPX, Jornal de Negocios (Portugal), The Kite Factory, Bible Society, Sheffield Wire, unLTD.
Gianni De Fraja discussing our paper on the podcast A Correction.
Jesse Matheson discussing the impact of remote work in ITV tonight documentary "Can Your Town Centre Survive?"
BBC Radio 4, Analysis: "The Zoomshock Metropolis" (31/05/2020)
Jesse Matheson interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield (02/09/2021)
Policy citations, Government
"Local jobs, trade and investment: why does the local picture matter for trade policy?" Department for International Trade, March 2021, LINK
"Remote Working: Implications for Wales", Welsh Parliament, Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, March 2021, LINK
"Poverty Needs Assessment" Barnsley MBC, Business Improvement and Intelligence Team, May 2021, LINK
"Social Distancing Review: Report" HM Government, July 2021, LINK
"Upskilling, advanced work practices and productivity in a socially distant world", Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, July2021
"Enhanced Partnership Plan (Draft)" South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Nov 2021
"Low Pay Commission, 2021 Report", Low Pay Commission, December 2021, LINK.
"House of Lords COVID-19 Committee - Towns and Cities report", December 2021, LINK
"London's Economic Outlook: Autumn 2021", Greater London Authority, December 2021, LINK
"Levelling up the United Kingdom", Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 02 February 2022, LINK
Policy citations, Other
"Post Pandemic Places: From renew normal: The people's commission on life after Covid-19", Demos and Legal & General, March 2021, LINK
"Eye on the market," JP Morgan Asset Management, March 2021, LINK
"At a crossroads – Travel adaptations during Covid-19 restrictions and where next?" CREDS and DecraboN8, March 2021, LINK
"Who is winning from Covid-19" Scottish Trade Union Congress, April 2021, LINK
"Zoomshock: Is remote working the future of the Welsh economy?" commentary, Wales Centre for Public Policy, May 2021, LINK
"The Future of Urban Centres" The Key Cities and Core Cities/Metro Dynamics, May 2021, LINK
"Planning for the recovery and the shift toward homeworking: Implications for poverty in outer London", The Smith Institute, July 2021, LINK
"Begining again? Assessing the permanent implications of Covid-19 for the UK’s labour market ", Resolution Foundation, November 2021, LINK
"Zoomshock – the estimated shift to the suburbs of London’s economic activity" in London's Economy Today, Issue 232, Greater London Authority, 16 December 2021, LINK
"Review of Highstreet Footfall in England", Highstreet Task Force, 2021 report, LINK
"Dealing with Zoom shock: the post-pandemic world of work" HSBC Economic Commentary, 21 January 2022, LINK
Zoomshock: This figure shows, for the Greater London Authority, the estimated change in neighbourhood economic activity due to the increase in working-from-home, brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Red neighbourhoods show a decrease in activity, blue neighbourhoods show an increase in activity.
Figure from Zoomshock: The geography and local labour market consequences of working from home.
Project 360 Domestic Violence Intervention
The Project 360 intervention assists victims of police-reported domestic abuse in transitioning from police services to non-police support services. The trial of Project 360 was implemented by Leicestershire Police and Leicester city, Leicestershire and Rutland county councils between November 2014 and April 2015 and evaluated independently by researchers at the University of Leicester.
The trial of Project 360 was funded by the Ministry of Justice.
Academic Paper
“The impact of improving access to support services for victims of domestic violence on demand for services and victim outcomes”, M. Foureaux-Koppensteiner, J. Matheson and R. Plugor. Accepted at American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (2022). PDF (Link includes main paper and appendix)
Policy citations
"Policing Domestic Abuse", Houses of Parliament POSTNOTE, Number 515, December 2015, LINK
"Evaluation of the Gwent Domestic Abuse Assertive Outreach Scheme: A partnership approach to crisis intervention", Interim Progress Report to Gwent Police and Cyfannol Women’s Aid, March 2020, LINK
Global RECHARGE, Pulmonary Rehabilitation Project
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a low cost, high impact intervention that reverses the disability associated with long-term lung disease. The WHO makes the case for the fundamental role of accessible and affordable rehabilitation and acknowledges an unmet need for rehabilitation that is profound in LMICs. Working with partners in Kyrgyzstan, India, Sri Lanka and Uganda the ultimate aim of the RECHARGE programme is to restore the health of people with lung diseases through the development of effective PR programmes and to build research capacity for the future.
This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (award ID 17/63/20)
Global RECHARGE Publications
"Culturally adapted pulmonary rehabilitation for adults living with post-tuberculosis lung disease in Kyrgyzstan: protocol for a randomised controlled trial with blinded outcome measures", (2022) BMJ Open, 12(2). LINK
"Protocol for a single-centre mixed-methods pre-post single-arm feasibility trial of a culturally appropriate six-week pulmonary rehabilitation programme among adults with functionally limiting chronic respiratory diseases in Malawi", (2022) BMJ Open, 12(1). LINK
"Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial assessing the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation on maximal exercise capacity for adults living with post-TB lung disease: Global RECHARGE Uganda", (2021) BMJ Open, 11(8). LINK
"Global RECHARGE: Establishing a standard international data set for pulmonary rehabilitation in low- and middle-income countries", Journal of Global Health, (2020) 10(2). LINK
“Protocol for the cultural adaptation of pulmonary rehabilitation and subsequent testing in a randomised controlled feasibility trial for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Sri Lanka", (2020) BMJ Open, 10(11). LINK