Policy instruments facilitate China's COVID-19 work resumption

Area of Science:

• Economics
• Public Policy
• Sociology

Background:

• Governments globally introduced stimulus measures to address the COVID-19 recession and facilitate labor force remobilization.
• The effectiveness of these post-COVID-19 recovery strategies remains unclear, particularly regarding large-scale work resumption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the factors influencing large-scale work resumption in China post-COVID-19.
• To model work resumption as a collective behavioral change influenced by capacity, motivation, and policy instruments.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative comparative analysis of a large-scale prefecture-level dataset.
• Analysis included human mobility trajectory data for 320 million workers and 500,000 policy documents in China.

Main Results:

• Stimulus effectiveness varied significantly across Chinese prefectures, dependent on fiscal capacity, administrative capability, and policy motivation.
• Subnational fiscal and procurement policies were more effective for wholesale, retail, hotel, and catering sectors.
• Manufacturing and business services sectors required more targeted employment policies for recovery.

Conclusions:

• Simultaneous adoption of fiscal, employment, and procurement policies can hinder post-COVID-19 work resumption if prefectural capacity is limited or policy motivation wavers.
• Tailored post-crisis recovery strategies are essential, considering local administrative and fiscal capacities, alongside the specific sectoral economic structure.