In order to curb the advance of COVID-19, Royal Decree-Law 10/2020 of 29 March 2020 stipulated the temporary shutdown of all activities considered non-essential between 30 March and 9 April 2020 This paper uses municipal-level information to quantify the short-term effects of this measure both on employment and on containing the pandemic Specifically, we analyse the relationship between the share of firms forced to shut down in each municipality and changes in Social Security registrations along with new COVID-19 cases in April The results suggest that those municipalities most affected by the non-essential activity shutdown endured higher reductions in employment but, at the same time, they also witnessed a lower propagation of the pandemic during April Finally, other characteristics such as ageing, colder temperatures, higher population density and proximity to the provincial capital are found to be associated with a higher incidence of COVID-19 at the municipality level
Containment Measures, Employment and the Spread of COVID-19 in Spanish Municipalities (Medidas de contención, evolución del empleo y propagación del Covid-19 en los municipios españoles)