The Long Shadow of Labor Market Scarring

Even as a vaccine promises an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are concerns that the current economic downturn could have a long-lasting impact, especially on younger workers. On this episode of EconoFact Chats, Jesse Rothstein at the University of California, Berkeley and Michael Klein discuss the persistent effects of long-term unemployment – an issue that takes on more urgency given nearly 10 million more people were out of work in November 2020 compared to November 2019; and that almost 4 million of those have been unemployed for over half a year.

 

Jesse also discusses his recent efforts to develop new data sources that give an up-to-the-minute picture of the labor market, which will be important to gauge whether COVID-19 vaccination efforts are helping the economic recovery.