Employment and Unemployment

commentary

Long COVID Is a Mass Disability. The Labor Market Is in Denial

Forget the work-from-home revolution or quiet quitting: The COVID-19 pandemic's biggest impact on the U.S. labor market will be as a mass disability event. It's a shock that the economy is not well prepared to handle.

Kathryn A. Edwards

commentary

How COVID-19 Transformed the Jobs Market

The COVID-19 pandemic initially devastated the U.S. economy. It also exposed and exacerbated existing inequities in society. But in as yet unpredictable ways, it may have accelerated profound changes in how labor works today.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins

commentary

Working Moms' Winter Math Is Getting Tougher

Working mothers remain disproportionately responsible for raising children, and no one can work and take care of sick kids at the same time. In the coming months, the tripledemic of COVID, the flu, and RSV will pull a lot of working mothers out of the office for days at a stretch, compounding the obstacles that women already face.

Kathryn A. Edwards

commentary

Green Jobs and Skills Development for Disadvantaged Groups

Many countries have plans to increase green job opportunities. To make sure that everyone can benefit from this promised green transition, it is important to understand how people with low qualifications, and other marginalised groups, might be able to access green jobs.

Joanna Hofman @JoannaBHofman, Katrin Feyerabend, et al.

commentary

Got a Labor Shortage? Make It Easier to Work

If the United States wants to avoid a long-term worker shortage, it should look to what policy can—but has failed to—fully address. We have a long history using carrots and sticks, but this is a problem we may not be able to cajole or punish our way out of. Finding workers can be as simple as giving more people a chance to work.

Kathryn A. Edwards

blog

U.S. Labor Market, 988 Hotline, Firearm Homicides: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the U.S. economy’s uneven pandemic recovery, a new national mental health hotline, firearm homicides, and more.

commentary

Recovered, but Not Whole: U.S. Jobs Rebounded, but Not for Everyone

The U.S. recovery from the pandemic recession has been remarkable. But it's important to note that both the recession and its recovery treated men and women differently, and treated women of color differently than white women.

Kathryn A. Edwards

commentary

Is a Recession Coming? A Key Indicator Is Also the King of Mixed Messages

When fears of inflation arise in the United States, people start paying a lot of attention to weekly unemployment-insurance claims, as an early indicator of layoffs that could augur a broader slump. But unemployment claims are a flawed gauge that may be particularly skewed by the pandemic.

Kathryn A. Edwards

commentary

A Whole New, Same World

Workers in the United States have emerged from the pandemic with new preferences and demands, but they still lack the power to get what they want. By any meaningful measure, employers are still in charge.

Kathryn A. Edwards

commentary

For Ukrainian Refugees in Poland, Livelihood Needs Will Follow Humanitarian Ones

Host countries such as Poland that accept refugees are to be lauded for their humanitarian response. To increase the likelihood that these countries find effective policy solutions, they should view the influx of refugees not merely as a challenge, but as a significant opportunity to be seized for aiding their post-COVID recovery.

Krishna B. Kumar @kbkumar_

commentary

Why Unemployed Men with Criminal Records Could Be Key to Solving the U.S. Labor Shortage

American employers are panicked about the lack of willing workers. They shouldn't be. There are plenty of Americans who want to work. If you're an employer, you may be wondering where all these potential employees are hiding. They aren't hiding—they've been applying to your job openings, and you've been screening them out.

Shawn D. Bushway @BushwayShawn, Jeffrey B. Wenger

blog

RAND Commentary Highlights of 2021

Vaccine rollouts, an attack on the U.S. Capitol, massive ransomware attacks, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, record numbers of job openings and people quitting, and more. RAND researchers weighed in on all these topics and more.

blog

Gender Pay Gap Among Doctors, America's Labor Shortage, 'Hacking Equity': RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the pay gap between female and male doctors, understanding America’s weird job market, social and emotional learning, and more.

commentary

How to Explain This Weird Job Market

It's tempting to see in 2021 a harbinger of some permanent shift in our labor market, but that would be premature. What is clear is that we will never recreate the world of December 2019. The labor market in 2022 and beyond will reflect not only what workers learned from their pandemic experience, but also how employers and policymakers choose to respond.

Kathryn A. Edwards

commentary

Married Moms Aren't Striking Workers, but They Are Saying the Same Thing

If we are in the middle of a labor shortage, recruiting people back into the labor force is key to sustaining a recovery. The historic work choices of married mothers reveal a lot about what might lure people back into the workforce.

Kathryn A. Edwards