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Employment and Unemployment

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An individual's education, age, and health status may present barriers or opportunities to employability, just as a region's economy, tax base, and number of immigrants and emigrants may affect job availability. RAND research examines the impact of a range of policies and forces—personal, regional, and global—on employment and unemployment.

Report

How Telecommuting Is Changing During the Pandemic

Dec 3, 2020

The ability to telecommute at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic saved many workers' jobs. Some of them are now returning to their workplaces, but most who can telecommute continue to do so. Telecommuting is also spreading to such occupations as health care and sales. Are these changes likely to persist after the pandemic?
Commentary

Women Are Leaving the Labor Force in Record Numbers

Nov 24, 2020

The economic downturn during the pandemic is affecting women workers measurably harder than men. There were 2.2 million fewer women in the labor force in October 2020 than there were last October. Investing in childcare and expanding labor laws could keep women employed and buoy the entire economy.

Explore Employment and Unemployment

Commentary

The Racial Disparity in Unemployment Benefits

Economic racial inequality in America cannot be solved through unemployment insurance, but it certainly shouldn't be exacerbated by it. And yet, Black workers are less financially supported during unemployment, simply by virtue of where they live.

Jul 15, 2020
Multimedia

How Do People Stop Committing Crimes?

In this Events @ RAND podcast based on the Career Prospects for People with Criminal Records Symposium held at RAND in 2019, senior policy researcher Shawn D. Bushway explains the concept of desistance, or how and when people with criminal records stop offending.

Jul 8, 2020
Multimedia

The Unequal Nature of the Damage from COVID-19

Shanthi Nataraj, senior economist with the RAND Corporation, explains which communities and businesses have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jul 7, 2020
Commentary

COVID-19's Depletion of Entry-Level Summer Jobs Can Have Long-Lasting Effects

Summer is typically when employment for young workers is at its highest. One of the many costs of the pandemic is lower employment rates. For young workers, it's not just an issue of lost wages; there is also an effect on their personal job history.

Jul 6, 2020
Report

How small businesses are coping with the impact of COVID-19: Results from a survey in Turkey and the Middle East

SPARK, an NGO supporting young people's access to education and employment, commissioned RAND Europe to conduct a survey to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East and Turkey.

Jul 6, 2020
Journal Article

Addressing Employment Obstacles for Young Syrian Refugee Women

This Note builds on research covering the three countries with the highest concentration of Syrian refugees displaced since 2011: Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Jun 30, 2020
Commentary

A Path to Recovery from COVID-19 for Small Businesses

The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered small businesses around the United States. We spoke with 21 small business owners to learn more about the challenges they are facing and how they might best be helped.

Jun 25, 2020
Multimedia

COVID-19 Briefing Series: Examining the Post-COVID-19 Workforce

In this briefing, RAND's Christian van Stolk discusses how policymakers and employers can rethink and retool the workplace to support employee health and well-being and maintain productivity during the pandemic.

Jun 19, 2020
Blog

Protests and Police Reform, Facial Recognition, Gun Policies: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on protests and police reform after the killing of George Floyd, facial recognition bans, gun policies that likely reduce deaths, and more.

Jun 19, 2020
Report

COVID-19 and the Changing Nature of Work

Between February and May, one in six U.S. workers lost their jobs. Most were either laid off or unable to work because of coronavirus restrictions. The ability to telecommute protected against job loss. But of course not all jobs are conducive to telecommuting.

Jun 18, 2020
Commentary

Long-Term Furloughs During COVID-19 Hold Risks for Employee Health and Well-Being

Governments around the world have offered furlough schemes to try to delay employers from making any restructuring decisions during the pandemic. The aims of such programs are laudable. But they may come with unintended consequences.

Jun 15, 2020
Commentary

Working Moms Are at Risk of Being Left Behind

Being a working parent was hard enough before the pandemic. If COVID-19 intensifies the perception that parenting is at odds with work, then there may be devastating career consequences for working mothers.

Jun 11, 2020
Journal Article

Workplace Health: Long-Term Sickness Absence and Capability to Work

Researchers provided evidence on reducing sickness absence in the workplace to support National Institute for Health and Care Guidance (NICE) guidelines on how to help people return to work after long-term sickness absence.

Jun 11, 2020
Blog

A Message from Our President and CEO, America's Wealth Gap, Disinformation: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on doing more to address systemic inequalities and structural racism, paying the bills during COVID-19, America's growing wealth gap, and more.

Jun 5, 2020
Commentary

Reopened Offices Won’t Mean Back-to-Normal for Caregivers

As some workplaces start to reopen and work-from-home guidelines relax, corporate leaders may hope things will quickly get back to normal. But for employees who are also caregivers, that's likely not going to be the case.

Jun 4, 2020
Commentary

The Wealth Gap Widens

Whether history considers the current downturn a recession or a depression, it will reinforce the growing inequality in the United States. Navigating this crisis without substantially increasing inequality would require an unwavering commitment to support displaced workers and small-business owners.

Jun 1, 2020
Commentary

38 Million Have Applied for Unemployment. But How Many Have Received Benefits?

Unemployment Insurance may need substantial reform to its application process, but it has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic unemployment disaster. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the new program intended for workers who are not part of the employer tax base, has not.

Jun 1, 2020
Blog

COVID-19's Effects on U.S. Schools, Vaccine Uptake, Small Businesses: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how COVID-19 has affected U.S. schools, potential barriers to vaccine uptake, what small businesses need to survive, and more.

May 29, 2020
News Release

Preparing Now Can Help Small Businesses Revive More Quickly as the Economy Reopens, Business Owners Tell RAND

As small businesses reopen after a lengthy pandemic shutdown, one key challenge will be finding working capital to replenish inventories and pay employees until revenue returns to normal.

May 27, 2020
Commentary

To Preserve Jobs, America's Employers May Have to Get Creative

With about 38.6 million Americans filing for unemployment insurance benefits since the end of February, it is clear that COVID-19 has turned the world of work upside down. One way to reduce the economic damage may be job-sharing, an approach that focuses on maximizing jobs by reducing workers' hours rather than resorting to layoffs or furloughs.

May 26, 2020

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