Abstract: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has surged in the U.S. This paper addresses two key questions: Who is participating in online learning, and how does enrollment in online learning impact labor market outcomes? Using data from the Current Population Survey, I construct a measure of occupational exposure to online learning and track the labor market outcomes of thousands of individuals from 2019 through 2022. I find that individuals engaged in online learning tend to be more educated, earn higher wages, and are typically employed in computer- and office-focused occupations. On average, exposure to online learning is associated with greater employment stability. Notably, women with young children are more likely to exit the labor force than those without; however, online learning is associated to a reduction in these excess exits. 

Abstract: Using a broad definition of energy consumption that includes both residential energy use and gasoline for transport, we identify 20% of households in the PSID as energy burdened (EB) based on a twice-the-median, income-based threshold. Logit analysis shows that being non-white, being single with dependents, receiving public assistance, having no post-secondary education, and being unemployed increase the probability of being EB. We document four key empirical facts: (1) EB/non-EB status is persistent; (2) EB households have significantly higher marginal propensities to consume and marginal propensities to consume energy compared to non-EB households; (3) EB households experience lower expected energy consumption growth despite having higher expected income growth relative to non-EB households; and (4) EB households face more volatile energy consumption and income than non-EB households. Lastly, we show that both consumption inequality and energy consumption inequality have risen more moderately than income inequality over the 1999 to 2021 period. Inequality in residential energy consumption increased until 2009, then declined, whereas inequality in gasoline consumption for transport has risen steadily, reaching a level 50% higher in 2021 than in 1999.

Abstract: Since the pandemic, the supply of workers with disabilities has risen substantially, a trend largely attributed to the expansion of remote work opportunities. This paper examines how the rise in work from home (WFH) among workers with disabilities has affected productivity. Leveraging plausibly exogenous industry-level variation in WFH, I show that a one standard deviation (4pp) increase in disability WFH is associated with consistent gains in labor productivity between 2021 and 2023, ranging from 2% to 6%. I also show that disability WFH contributed to gains in real value added per hour by 1.4%. Beyond productivity, I document that rising remote work among disabled workers coincided with a reallocation of employment from small and young firms toward larger, incumbent firms, likely reflecting the latter’s greater capacity to implement remote work at scale. These findings suggest that while WFH among disabled workers has enhanced productivity, it has also contributed to increased labor market concentration, favoring larger and older firms over their smaller and younger counterparts.