Newsletter and Subscription Sign Up
Subscribe

The Inequities of Job Loss and Recovery

Published Thursday Aug 13, 2020

The Inequities of Job Loss and Recovery

There have been disparities between unemployment and job loss during the pandemic across the nation’s demographic groups. Those suffering the most are persons of color, women, and immigrants. And, it is particularly unfortunate that the calamity of the pandemic comes on the heels of major improvements in job prospects that these groups made over the last decade, as the workforce emerged from the Great Recession.

In a policy brief, published by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, authors Rogelio Sáenz and Corey Sparks discuss the disparities. 

The benefits associated with the CARES Act of March 2020 expired in July, leaving tens of millions of unemployed people in dire straits. Implications of the inequality in both joblessness and job recovery will likely have far-reaching effects for other aspects of life.

Some obvious implications of prolonged joblessness related to COVID-19 are potential spikes in defaults on mortgages and rent payments, especially as rent assistance programs phase out of operation. Other implications of joblessness are food insecurity.

As people of color continue to bear the brunt of the ravage of the pandemic, it exposes profound racial divides in this country that policymakers will need to address with an equity lens.

Read the full report.

All Stories