השכלה גבוהה וחוסן תעסוקתי בעיתות משבר כלכלי-תעסוקתי

This study takes advantage of a natural experiment produced by COVID-19 pandemic to examine whether a change in labor market conditions similarly affects the job security of workers with and without a college degree. Using a representative sample of the Israeli adult population pre- and post-pandemic, we compare the way college graduates and non-graduates fare in the labor market during times of economic and labor uncertainty. Our results show that the sense of employment security of all workers decreased as a result of the pandemic. However, the perceived job and labor market insecurity of workers without an academic degree worsened to a greater extent due to the pandemic compared to college educated workers, and workers without a degree were more willing to compromise to avoid unemployment, demonstrating the premium for academic education during times of crisis.