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The Unemployment Cost of COVID-19: How High and How Long?

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Abstract

We use flows into and out of unemployment to estimate the unemployment rate over the next year. This approach produces less stark projections for the unemployment rate over the course of the next year than some of the more alarming projections that have been reported. Using our approach and assuming that the severest social-distancing measures will be lifted in June, we estimate that the unemployment rate will peak in May at about 16 percent but gradually decline thereafter and end the year at 7.5 percent.

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  • Ayşegül Şahin & Murat Tasci, 2020. "The Unemployment Cost of COVID-19: How High and How Long?," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, vol. 2020(09), May.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcec:87920
    DOI: 10.26509/frbc-ec-202009
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    1. Richard K. Crump & Stefano Eusepi & Marc Giannoni & Aysegul Sahin, 2019. "A Unified Approach to Measuring u," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 50(1 (Spring), pages 143-238.
    2. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Weber, Michael, 2020. "Labor Markets During the Covid-19 Crisis: A Preliminary View," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7rx7t91p, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
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    4. Bart Hobijn & Ayşegül Şahin, 2011. "Do initial claims overstate layoffs?," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue feb7.
    5. Murat Tasci, 2012. "The Ins and Outs of Unemployment in the Long Run: Unemployment Flows and the Natural Rate," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1233, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    6. Regis Barnichon & Christopher J. Nekarda, 2012. "The Ins and Outs of Forecasting Unemployment: Using Labor Force Flows to Forecast the Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 43(2 (Fall)), pages 83-131.
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    Cited by:

    1. Christopher Foote & Tyler Hounshell & William D. Nordhaus & Douglas Rivers & Pamela Torola, 2021. "Measuring the U.S. Employment Situation Using Online Panels: The Yale Labor Survey," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2282, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    2. Birinci, Serdar & Karahan, Fatih & Mercan, Yusuf & See, Kurt, 2021. "Labor market policies during an epidemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    3. Gächter, Martin & Huber, Florian & Meier, Martin, 2022. "A shot for the US economy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    4. Caperna, Giulio & Colagrossi, Marco & Geraci, Andrea & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2020. "Googling Unemployment During the Pandemic: Inference and Nowcast Using Search Data," JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2020-04, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    5. Jackson, Paul & Ortego-Marti, Victor, 2024. "Skill loss during unemployment and the scarring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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    Keywords

    COVID-19; unemployment;

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