Gaurav Kankanhalli

Big data on job postings reveal multiple facets of the impact of COVID-19 on corporate hiring. Firms disproportionately cut new hiring for high-skill positions, with financially constrained firms reducing skilled hiring the most. Applying machine learning methods to job-ad texts, we find that firms have skewed their hiring toward operationally-core functions. New positions display greater flexibility regarding schedules and tasks. While job posting levels show signs of recovery starting in late-2020, changes to job descriptions and skill profiles persist through early-2022. Financial constraints amplify these changes, with constrained firms’ new hires witnessing greater adjustments to job roles and employment arrangements.

The U.S. Department of Justice initiated antitrust action in 2010 against major Silicon Valley technology firms engaging in anti-poaching agreements. Under labor market collusion, cartel firms experienced lower inventor departure rates relative to comparable non-cartel firms. Accordingly, cartel firms produced superior innovation output over the collusive period, particularly in technology areas covered by the agreements, while their dissolution was accompanied by a reversal of this trend. Event-study tests around the unanticipated antitrust action show a negative returns response. Our results reveal important linkages between reduced employee turnover arising from firms' anti-competitive conduct in labor markets and their innovation and valuations.