With about 38.6 million Americans filing for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits since the end of February, it is clear that COVID-19 has turned the world of work upside down. There has been no clear signal that the economic damage will end any time soon, either. As businesses reopen across the country, surviving employers may find themselves needing to cut even more jobs due to the financial strain.
Millions more employees who are counting on returning to work may lose their paychecks and face the deterioration of job-related skills the longer they remain at home. Employers, in turn, could face further declines in productivity related to the disruption of their existing workforce, increased unemployment insurance costs and the loss of qualified employees who may find jobs elsewhere before they can be recalled…
The remainder of this commentary is available at cnn.com
Jason Ward is an associate economist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.
