chetty et al. ( 2020 ) find that particularly large job losses in the united states occurred in companies that operate in lockdown industries and offer personal services catering to high - income households. to a large extent, these job losses affected low - income employees. this finding also suggests that government - imposed lockdown measures could increase inequality further. indeed, furceri et al. ( 2020 ) show that previous pandemics had the effect of amplifying income inequality. these consequences of the crisis are relevant from a macroeconomic – and monetary policy – perspective because patterns of consumption and savings differ greatly across various income groups. whereas individuals located at lower levels of the income distribution spend most of their income on basic necessities, the shares of savings and consumer spending that could be postponed during the crisis is particularly high at the top of the income distribution ( figure 14 ). an increase in inequality therefore has an impact on the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy measures. figure 14 categories of spending and savings by income quintiles. percent source : household budget survey. note : the chart shows the structure of household expenditures ( spending ) and saving across income quintiles. blue bars denote necessities, items unaffected by lockdown, such as food at home, housing and utilities, health items, communications and education. yellow bars denote items restricted by the lockdown, such as food in restaurants, transport services, holidays, hotels and cultural services. red bars denote postponable spending items, such as purchases of motor vehicles, clothing and footwear, and furnishings and furniture. green bars show household saving. the chart shows an aggregate of germany, spain and france. furthermore, the impact of the lockdown measures is also associated with individuals ’ education level. in the netherlands, for example, sectors with a higher share of work hours spent in home office during the crisis tend to have a higher proportion of employees with tertiary education ( figure 15 ). employees in these sectors are presumably less affected by short - time work schemes and income shortfalls, given that they were able to continue working from home during the pandemic period. figure 15 share of workers with tertiary education vs. share of working hours in home office. percent source : von gaudecker et al. ( 2020 ), longitudinal internet studies for the social sciences ( liss ), centerdata / tilburg university. note : data refer to survey results obtained in the netherlands between 20 march and 31 march 2020. response rate :

s. 351 – 384 ; voinea, l., lovin, h. und cojocaru, a. ( 2018 ), “ the impact of inequality on the transmission of monetary policy ”, journal of international money and finance, band 85, s. 236 – 250. [ 9 ] see also : torrejon perez, s., fana, m., gonzalez - vazquez, i. and fernandez - macias, e. ( 2020 ), “ the asymmetric impact of covid19 confinement measures on eu labour markets ”, voxeu, 9 may. [ 10 ] on the persistence of income losses on the labour market, see also : stevens, a. h. ( 1997 ), “ persistent effects of job displacement : the importance of multiple job losses ”, journal of labour economics, 15 ( 1 ), pp. 165 - 188. [ 11 ] alon et al. ( 2020 ), by contrast, assume that the negative effects in the short term can be offset by men becoming more heavily involved in childcare in the long term. [ 12 ] fuchs - schundeln, n., kuhn, m. and tertilt, m. ( 2020 ), “ the short - run macro implications of school and childcare closures ”, voxeu, 3 may. [ 13 ] adams, a., boneva, t., golin, m. and rauh, c. ( 2020 ), “ inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock : evidence from real - time surveys ”, cepr discussion paper 14665, centre for economic policy research, april. [ 14 ] alon, t. m., doepke, m., olmstead - rumsey, j. and tertilt, m. ( 2020 ), “ the impact of covid - 19 on gender equality ”, nber working paper series, working paper no 26947, national bureau of economic research, april. [ 15 ] https : / / www. europarl. europa. eu / news / en / press - room / 20200525ipr79717 / eu - citizens - want - more - competences - for - the - eu - to - dealwith - crises - like - covid - 19. 18 september 2020 slides related topics coronavirus pandemic emergency purchase programme ( pepp ) monetary policy disclaimer please note that related