HKS Affiliated Authors

Excerpt

February 5, 2021, Opinion: "The labor market was essentially unchanged at the start of 2021 as employers added 49,000 jobs in January. Overall, the economy is 11.6 million jobs below its pre-pandemic trend with the unemployment rate elevated and the employment rate having fallen even more as millions of people have left the labor force. Unusually, while the unemployment rate has fallen steadily from 11.1 percent in June 2020 to 6.3 percent this past month, this has not been accompanied by a return of people to the workforce—as the labor force participation rate has been essentially unchanged at 61.4 percent for the last seven months. As a result the realistic unemployment rate, which is more comparable to historical numbers for the unemployment rate, stood at a very high 8.3 percent in January." Read on PIIE

HKS MRCBG Associate - Wilson Powell III