The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of our lives. Among other outcomes, the academic literature and popular media both discuss the potential effects of the pandemic on fertility. As fertility is an important determinant of population development and population forecasts are important for policy decisions and planning, we need to address to which extent fertility forecasts performed before the pandemic still apply.
Fertility Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Developed Countries: On Pre-pandemic Fertility Forecasts
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW)
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of our lives. Among other outcomes, the academic literature and popular media both discuss the potential effects of the pandemic on fertility. As fertility is an important determinant of population development and population forecasts are important for policy decisions and planning, we need to address to which extent fertility forecasts performed before the pandemic still apply.
Using Monte Carlo forecasting based on principal components of fertility rates, we quantify the effects of the pandemic on fertility for 22 countries and discuss whether forecasts made prior to the pandemic need adjustment based on more recent data.
Among the studied countries, 14 countries show no significant effect of the pandemic at all, while six countries have significantly lowered numbers of births in comparison to counterfactual trajectories that assume that past trends will hold. These countries are primarily in the Mediterranean and East Asia. For Finland and South Korea, there is statistical evidence for increased fertility in the early phases of the pandemic. In all cases with statistically significant fertility differentials caused by the pandemic, reproductive behavior normalized quickly. Therefore, we find no evidence for long-term effects of the pandemic on fertility, leading to the conclusion that pre-pandemic fertility forecasts still apply.
Fertility Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Developed Countries: On Pre-pandemic Fertility Forecasts
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW)

Ergebnisorientierte Führung vor und nach der Covid-19-Krise
Ergebnisorientiertes Führen wird relevanter. Der Anteil der Unternehmen, in denen Führungskräfte sensibilisiert werden, ergebnisorientiert zu führen, ist zwischen 2018 und 2023 um 6 Prozentpunkte auf 69 Prozent angestiegen. Ein ergebnisorientierter ...
IW
KOFA Kompakt 7/2023: Die Fachkräftesituation in Hotel- und Gaststättenberufen – Nachwehen der Corona-Lockdowns
Im Jahresdurchschnitt 2022/2023 konnten etwa 17.000 Stellen nicht besetzt werden. Das entspricht 38,7 Prozent aller offenen Stellen in den Hotel- und Gaststättenberufen. Am stärksten sind die Engpässe im Bereich Hotellerie.
IW