[stupac2]

Maybe the problem was not COVID-19 or our response.  Maybe the problem is the way the US labor force is structured, or what we've done to mitigate the impact.



It seems crazy that Spain's unemployment rate has increased by only 1.3%.  Germany's unemployment has actually dropped!

https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-e...f-the-data

The good news is that generally speaking, America's labor force is more dynamic and tends to bounce back much faster than other country's.  But you do wonder if we have a problem with employment fragility in the US.

BC

You probably also want to compare the levels before as well. For instance, Spain's unemployment rate was already ~14% when the virus hit. Meanwhile ours was <4%. There's a lot more room for movement when you're at a lower level.

I think Farm93 is also right that different labor market laws (and unionization rates and the like) explain a lot of it, too. We may also have been alone in using unemployment insurance as a way to pay workers to not work, while other places made other decisions.

Which isn't to say we've done well, we sure haven't. But it's not clear to me that this is a real apples-to-apples comparison.

[stupac2]

Maybe the problem was not COVID-19 or our response.  Maybe the problem is the way the US labor force is structured, or what we've done to mitigate the impact.



It seems crazy that Spain's unemployment rate has increased by only 1.3%.  Germany's unemployment has actually dropped!

https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-e...f-the-data

The good news is that generally speaking, America's labor force is more dynamic and tends to bounce back much faster than other country's.  But you do wonder if we have a problem with employment fragility in the US.

BC

You probably also want to compare the levels before as well. For instance, Spain's unemployment rate was already ~14% when the virus hit. Meanwhile ours was <4%. There's a lot more room for movement when you're at a lower level.

I think Farm93 is also right that different labor market laws (and unionization rates and the like) explain a lot of it, too. We may also have been alone in using unemployment insurance as a way to pay workers to not work, while other places made other decisions.

Which isn't to say we've done well, we sure haven't. But it's not clear to me that this is a real apples-to-apples comparison.