Us and Uk Labour Markets Before and During the Covid-19 Crash

Abstract

We examine labour market performance in the US and the UK prior to the onset of the Covid-19 crash. We then track the changes that have occurred in the months and days from the beginning of March 2020 using what we call the Economics of Walking About (EWA) that shows a collapse twenty times faster and much deeper than the Great Recession. We examine unemployment insurance claims by state by day in the US as well as weekly national data. We track the distributional impact of the shock and show that already it is hitting the most vulnerable groups who are least able to work from home the hardest – the young, the least educated and minorities. We have no official labour market data for the UK past January but see evidence that job placements have fallen sharply. We report findings from an online poll fielded from 11–16 April 2020 showing that a third of workers in Canada and the US report that they have lost at least half of their income due to the Covid-19 crisis, compared with a quarter in the UK and 45 per cent in China. We estimate that the unemployment rate in the US is around 20 per cent in April. It is hard to know what it is in the UK given the paucity of data, but it has gone up a lot.

Investigating the emerging COVID-19 research trends in the field of business and management: A bibliometric analysis approach

“…Many employees have been affected by low wages, or loss of income. Sectors like travel and tourism, food services, retail, manufacturing, and business and administrative activities are at the highest risk of unemployment and under-employment (Bell & Blanchflower, 2020). COVID-19 is disrupting the economies of many countries by reducing economic activities across multiple sectors, leading to decreases in employment, and reducing revenue streams for several businesses (Dey & Loewenstein, 2020;Woodside, 2020).…”

“…The impact of this pandemic on employment is unprecedented and will continue to increase; therefore, economies urgently need to implement policy measures to boost the demand for labor. The new labor policies should effectively consider health protection measures and economic support on both the demand and supply sides (Bell & Blanchflower, 2020). Also, businesses should pay special attention to building capacity and updating employees' technological skills (Carnevale & Hatak, 2020).…”

Is happiness U-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries

“…The general economic situation measure had the biggest collapse in the history of the series that runs back to 1985, beating the previous record collapse that occurred in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. These macro happiness indicators provide a clear picture of the impact of the COVID-19 shock in March and April 2020 that the official statistics do not (Bell and Blanchflower 2020). 20 Algeria,Belarus,Brazil,Chile,China,Colombia,Ecuador,Egypt,Georgia,Ghana,Indonesia,Iran,Iraq,Jordan,Kyrgyzstan,Libya,Mali,Malaysia,Mexico,Morocco,Peru,Philippines,Russia,Singapore,South Africa,South Korea,Taiwan,Thailand,Trinidad,Turkey,Uruguay,Yemen,Zambia,and Zimbabwe.…”

Lost Wages: The COVID-19 Cost of School Closures

“…More than a quarter of workers have lost at least half of their income due to the COVID-19 crisis. 36 Low income workers in developing countries may face a higher risk of income loss during the COVID-19 lockdown as it is less feasible to conduct their jobs from home. 37 Predicted earnings losses due to COVID-19 in India appear substantial.…”