COVID Recession Hitting Young Workers Hard
As the United States continues to grapple with one of the worst pandemics of the 21st century and close to 18 million unemployed Americans, new research indicates that many of those Americans will not get called back to work. According to the Economic Policy Institute, about 11.9 million Americans who are unemployed as a result of the pandemic, or about 7.2 percent of the workforce, will not return to their old jobs. What this means for many Americans is those furloughs are now permanent layoffs. The group that has been impacted the most by permanent unemployment is Black and brown workers, particularly young workers, and especially women.
In putting America to work, this post explores the status of the changing workforce. It relates to psychology and the impact to careers, communities, and workplaces, and how all are connected to the mental and emotional space we share within and outside the workplace. Sharing information with readers on the changing face of the workforce, especially during a pandemic is vital to raising levels of awareness for workers and companies.
In Victoria, Texas, Marina Moya, 24, was laid off from Caterpillar, a heavy equipment company. She was pregnant and began to plan for the birth of her first child. She was making $18 an hour when she lost her job. She received unemployment, but that ended in October. Moya considered herself lucky because her husband was still working. When the lease was up on their apartment, they planned to move in with her mother to save money and prepare for the baby. Moya’s unemployment benefits ended in October and like many other women in her situation, she is now an unemployed mother.
The pandemic has devastated the workforce. According to Heidi Shierholz with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), approximately 19 million workers are either officially unemployed or otherwise out of the labor force as a result of the virus. Accounting for these workers, the unemployment rate would be 11.2%. Also adding in the 7.1 million who are employed but have seen a drop in hours and pay because of the pandemic brings the number of workers directly harmed in November 2020 by the coronavirus downturn to 26.1 million. That is 15.5% of the workforce.
The federal government provided limited relief for those impacted by the pandemic. The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program was a $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress in late March. It provides an extra $600 weekly unemployment benefits. Americans who are eligible for unemployment benefits receive funds from the federal government on top of what they receive under their state benefits. Unemployment benefits are not structured to sustain workers during a pandemic. On average, most states provide only 26 weeks of unemployment benefits and for most Americans who were lucky enough to get unemployment back in March, those benefits were exhausted in September. According to the Department of Labor, nearly 2 million workers have exhausted their unemployment benefits, and many are left without anything. Those who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic are the working poor who disproportionately are younger Americans and minorities. For young Black, Latinx, and Asian workers who were already working, in school, graduating, or those working with just a high school diploma, attempting to enter the labor force has been incredibly impacted by the pandemic and they risk suffering a lifetime of economic loss. Young workers have the least amount of skills and competencies, and they were already struggling prior to the pandemic. For young minority workers, “their employment-to-population ratios were the lowest of many groups. Young minority workers experience the most difficulty; they face barriers and access to jobs that provide a livable wage, and they are impacted by poverty, discrimination, and greater involvement with the criminal justice system," (Rodgers 2019). The pandemic exacerbated young, unskilled workers’ labor opportunities.
Young workers are more likely to work in restaurants, hospitality, and retail. Almost all these sectors were shattered by the pandemic, and many minority young workers were laid off. According to the Current Population Survey (2020) for young workers, “their cumulative job loss still exceeds that of adults, including staggering jobless rates for 16- to 24-year-old Black women, Latinx women, and mixed-race women at or above 30 percent. For young men, these workers’ jobless rates were at or above 25 percent.” The ability for the economy to bounce back and employment recovery are unlikely given the recent patterns with COVID. Specifically, with the resurgence of the virus, many states have slowed down on reopening their economies. The data also suggests that young women, especially minority women, have been severely impacted by the pandemic. According to Nicole Mason, president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, we should go ahead and call this a “shecession” as women have borne a disproportionate burden of the downturn (Mason 2020).
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women accounted for 55 percent of the 20.5 million jobs lost in April. In comparison, the unemployment rate for adult men was 13 percent. For women of color, the numbers were worse, with unemployment rates for Black women at 16.4 percent and Hispanic women at 20.2 percent. We need to look at solutions to help close the gap on young adults and minorities heavily impacted by the downturn. The HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives does provide unemployment relief for recent high school and college graduates. The Act should be expanded to include high school and college graduates. Even if they do not have a wage history, they will need assistance to help them until they can fully enter the job market. We need to also look at systemic racism in this process. Racism continues to be a barrier for Black and brown applicants attempting to enter the workforce. We need to implement a long-range response to COVID economic relief that addresses systemic racism. “This remedy would begin with ‘race neutral’ strategies, such as investing in the nation’s human social capital investment, improving opportunity, and lessening inequality, and then continue with ‘race specific’ strategies associated with fighting discrimination,” (Rodgers 2019).
References
Gupta, Alish Haridasani. (May 9, 2020). “Why Some Women Call This Recession a ‘Shecession.’” The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/us/unemployment-coronavirus-women.ht…
Cunningham, E. (April 2018). “Great Recession great recovery? Trends from the Current Population Survey,” Monthly Labor Review.
Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Cory Morse/Mlive.com, Julie Leopo/Voice of OC (October 23, 2020). Out of Work in America. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/22/us/pandemic-unemployment…
Leonhardt, M. (July 2, 2020). 17.6 million unemployed Americans probably won’t return to their pre-pandemic jobs. www.CNBC.com.
Rodgers, W. & Freeman, R. (November 10, 2020). The COVID-19 Recession Is Hitting Young Workers Especially Young Workers of Color the Hardest. www.cnbc.com. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/01/millions-of-unemployed-americans-wont-r…
Rodgers, M. III. “Race in the Labor Market: The Role of Equal Employment Opportunity and Other Policies,” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 5, no. (2019): 198-220.
Shierholz, H. (December 4, 2020). The economy President-elect Biden is inheriting. Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Available at:
https://www.epi.org/blog/the-economy-president-elect-biden-is-inheritin…
Sironi, M. “Economic Conditions of Young Adults Before and After the Great Recession,” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 39, no. 1 (October 17, 2020): 103-16.
Keystone Research Center and PA Budget and Policy Center. “Great Recession Took a Toll on Youth Employment.” Available at: https://tcf.org/content/report/the-covid-19-recession-is-hitting-young-…
