Open AccessUS workers' willingness to accept meatpacking jobs amid the COVID‐19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Luckstead Jeff,
Nayga Rodolfo M.,
Snell Heather
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of the agricultural and applied economics association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2769-2485
DOI - 10.1002/jaa2.8
Subject(s) - layoff , unemployment , willingness to accept , covid-19 , wage , economics , demographic economics , sample (material) , labour economics , willingness to pay , business , economic growth , medicine , chemistry , disease , pathology , chromatography , infectious disease (medical specialty) , microeconomics
We implement a discrete choice experiment to examine the impact of COVID‐19 exposure risk, unemployment risk, enhanced and extended unemployment benefits, and job attributes on low‐skilled workers' willingness to accept (WTA) meatpacking jobs. With a sample average WTA wage of $22.77/h, the current national average meatpacking wage of approximately $15/h is too low for these workers to consider this employment opportunity. Enhanced layoff risk and exposure to COVID‐19 further deterred respondents, while health insurance, retirement benefits, and a signing bonus enhanced respondents' WTA. The additional unemployment benefits of the CARES Act neither deterred nor encouraged respondents WTA.