Pandemic's Surprising Effects on Workforce

The coronavirus pandemic unleashed an earthquake in American labor markets—and its aftershocks are still with us. From March to May 2020, 20.3 million people abruptly lost their jobs; only half as many were hired over the following seven months. But businesses hired workers at turbocharged rates in 2021 and 2022. By May and June of this year, employment had fully recovered from the pandemic. Behind the headline numbers, however, COVID-19’s shocks continue to shake up the labor force.

A recent study that I did with my colleague Isaac Yoder shows that the people who lost their jobs during the pandemic’s steep decline are different in some respects from the people hired during the recovery. On balance, America’s workforce has become more male but also more racially and ethnically diverse.

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