An Analysis of the Work Resumption in China under the COVID-19 Epidemic Based on Night Time Lights Data

Abstract

Public emergencies often have an impact on the production and operation of enterprises. Timely and effective quantitative measurement of enterprises’ offline resumption of work after public emergencies is conducive to the formulation and implementation of relevant policies. In this study, we analyze the level of work resumption after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-influenced Chinese Spring Festival in 2020 with night time lights remote sensing data and Baidu Migration data. The results are verified by official statistics and facts, which demonstrates that COVID-19 has seriously affected the resumption of work after the Spring Festival holiday. Since 10 February, work has been resuming in localities. By the end of March, the work resumption index of most cities exceeded 70% and even Shanghai, Nanjing and Suzhou had achieved complete resumption of work. Wuhan only started to resume work in the last week of March due to the more severe outbreak. Although the level of work resumption is gradually increasing in every area, the specific situation of resumption of work varies in different regions. The process of work resumption in coastal areas is faster, while the process is relatively slow in inland cities.