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May 2020 Newsletter

Taking a long-term perspective.

Graduating during the Covid-19 recession

Opportunities for graduates are bleak. Many will be unable to find full-time work after finishing high school or completing a postsecondary program. The weaker labor market will also have long-lasting effects.

Closed businesses, for instance, will make finding any work challenging. The longer the “stay at home” restrictions last and the longer the economic downturn, the more graduates will settle for lower-paying occupations unrelated to their field of study.

Fortunately, there are ways to minimize these adverse impacts. In the short term, job vacancies are likely to be extremely scarce. Youths might instead consider acquiring new skills, potentially through online courses, or even stay on in school. Now would be an excellent time to pursue a one- or two-year graduate program of interest that leads to higher earnings, a new career, or a chance to enter the labor market in better times.

From a human capital perspective, the crisis presents a unique
economic opportunity to retrain and upskill the labor force.

As economies recover and businesses begin to hire, there are steps youths can take to minimize adverse effects from the recession. Those youths who are more mobile—switch jobs more often—recover faster. Getting back onto a steeper wage trajectory requires seizing better job opportunities when they come along. A willingness to move cities or to consider a wider range of industries will also help accelerate the recovery path.

To find out more ways this year’s graduates can combat labor market
conditions significantly worse than those examined in past research, read
Philip Oreopoulos' opinion piece Graduating during the Covid-19 recession.

Read some of our recent commentaries:

Lockdowns, togetherness and loneliness

The evidence suggests that spending more time with a spouse is more enjoyable for married people than being alone or even being with friends.

Covid-19 and immigrant employment

The immigrant employment advantage has not only disappeared, but was actually reversed.

The coronavirus crisis and the next generation

Youths graduating and entering the labor market this year risk experiencing considerable negative impacts on their careers.

200 billion hours to spend: The Covid-19 opportunity to upskill

The most efficient strategies may be those which focus on relatively short courses, perhaps six months.

How can governments mitigate the global decline in labor income share?

While the labor income share has decreased for low-skilled workers, this has been concurrent with an increase for high-skilled workers.

The Covid-19 crisis exacerbates workplace injustices

Beyond unemployment, the crisis has already exacerbated inequality between workers and regions.

Can inflation be accurately measured during a lockdown?

If consumer prices cannot be measured accurately, then after-inflation total consumption cannot be measured accurately either.

Measuring employment and unemployment—Primer and predictions

With the onset of the crisis and lock-downs, the unemployment rate has risen from 3.5% to 4.4%

What is happening to unemployment in the post-Covid-19 labor market?

This month, there is likely to be more than the usual amount of uncertainty about exactly what the data tell us.

The CARES Act - government intervention in the economic crisis

The CARES Act—Massive government intervention in the economic crisis

While the loans are available to most businesses, nearly half of all workers will not see relief through this program.

Did California’s shelter-in-place order work? Early coronavirus-related public health effects

The US is in the midst of an historic public health crisis, with more reported Covid-19 cases over a three-month period than reported polio cases between 1910 and 2010 combined.

The long-term consequences of missing a term of school

Labor markets during the Covid-19 crisis: A preliminary view

Why are so many unemployed choosing not to look for work now?

Trends in Covid-19 infection: What New York City neighborhoods tell us

Did the virus disproportionately affect particular demographic or socioeconomic groups?

Trading off lives for jobs

The lost lives are not randomly dispersed across the population. Not just old people, but poor people and minorities are disproportionately among those succumbing to Covid-19.

You can find more commentaries on coronavirus
on our opinion page

Visit our parent organization IZA for further analysis
and ongoing crisis response monitoring on the
COVID-19 and the Labor Market platform.

You'll find updated information, new empirical findings, and policy advice in response to the global coronavirus pandemic:

Articles relating to pandemics and the labor market:

To read more, consult our new key topic page Covid-19—
Pandemics and the labor market.

Keep up to date on our latest articles
and opinion pieces via our
LinkedIn page

Latest articles

All one-pagers are also available to read and download in German. Find out more.

One-pagers are now available in Spanish. Take a look at the Spanish key topics page.

Know someone who would benefit from this email?

Forward this email to a colleague or encourage them to subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the labor market

From a human capital perspective, the crisis presents a unique
economic opportunity to retrain and upskill the labor force.

To find out more ways this year’s graduates can combat labor market
conditions significantly worse than those examined in past research, read
Philip Oreopoulos' opinion piece Graduating during the Covid-19 recession.

Read some of our recent commentaries:

Lockdowns, togetherness and loneliness

Covid-19 and immigrant employment

The coronavirus crisis and the next generation

200 billion hours to spend: The Covid-19 opportunity to upskill

How can governments mitigate the global decline in labor income share?

The Covid-19 crisis exacerbates workplace injustices

Can inflation be accurately measured during a lockdown?

Measuring employment and unemployment—Primer and predictions

What is happening to unemployment in the post-Covid-19 labor market?

The CARES Act—Massive government intervention in the economic crisis

Did California’s shelter-in-place order work? Early coronavirus-related public health effects

Labor markets during the Covid-19 crisis: A preliminary view

Trends in Covid-19 infection: What New York City neighborhoods tell us

Trading off lives for jobs

You can find more commentaries on coronavirus
on our opinion page

Visit our parent organization IZA for further analysis
and ongoing crisis response monitoring on the
COVID-19 and the Labor Market platform.

You'll find updated information, new empirical findings, and policy advice in response to the global coronavirus pandemic:

Articles relating to pandemics and the labor market:

To read more, consult our new key topic page Covid-19—
Pandemics and the labor market.

Keep up to date on our latest articles
and opinion pieces via our
LinkedIn page

Latest articles

Know someone who would benefit from this email?

Forward this email to a colleague or encourage them to subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the labor market

Environmental regulations and business decisions

Gender quotas on corporate boards of directors

Machine learning for causal inference in economics

Innovation and employment in the era of artificial intelligence

Hiring discrimination across vulnerable groups

Artificial intelligence and labor market outcomes

Anonymous job applications and hiring discrimination

Female education and socioeconomic outcomes

The effects of minimum wages on youth employment, unemployment, and income

Promoting internal whistleblowing in organizations

To find out more ways this year’s graduates can combat labor market conditions significantly worse than those examined in past research, read Philip Oreopoulos' opinion piece Graduating during the Covid-19 recession.

Read some of our recent commentaries:

Visit our parent organization IZA for further analysis and ongoing crisis response monitoring on the COVID-19 and the Labor Market platform. You'll find updated information, new empirical findings, and policy advice in response to the global coronavirus pandemic:

Articles relating to pandemics and the labor market:

Keep up to date on our latest articles and opinion pieces via our LinkedIn page

Latest articles

Know someone who would benefit from this email? Forward this email to a colleague or encourage them to subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the labor market

To find out more ways this year’s graduates can combat labor market
conditions significantly worse than those examined in past research, read
Philip Oreopoulos' opinion piece Graduating during the Covid-19 recession.

Visit our parent organization IZA for further analysis
and ongoing crisis response monitoring on the
COVID-19 and the Labor Market platform.

You'll find updated information, new empirical findings, and policy advice in response to the global coronavirus pandemic:

Keep up to date on our latest articles
and opinion pieces via our
LinkedIn page

Know someone who would benefit from this email?

Forward this email to a colleague or encourage them to subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the labor market