Questions and answers about
the economy.

Early evidence of the impact of Covid-19 and the recession on older workers in the United States

We summarize the early effects, and anticipated future effects, of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting recession on older workers in the United States. We start by discussing what we know about how older workers faired in prior recessions in the United States, how Covid-19 and this recession may be different, and what this likely means for older workers. We then estimate some early effects on employment and unemployment rates of Covid-19 and the resulting recession by age group and sex up. We conclude with a brief discussion of important topics for future research as the pandemic develops and hopefully resolves, and as new data sources become available.

Lead investigator:

Patrick Button

Affiliation:

Tulane University

Primary topic:

Recession & recovery

Secondary topic:

Jobs, work, pay & benefits

Region of data collection:

North America

Country of data collection

USA

Status of data collection

Complete

Type of data being collected:

Publicly available

Unit of real-time data collection

Individual

Start date

1/1976

End date

4/2020

Frequency

One-off

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