In the current economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are laying off millions of workers and significantly cutting back on hiring new employees. Many businesses are no longer able to operate, or their operations have been limited, resulting in less demand for workers. The Conference Board®-Burning Glass® Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) data series, collects millions of online job ads in real-time and classifies them by occupation, industry and location. This allows us to see which

Unemployment insurance claims soared by over 16 million in the US in the last two weeks of March and the first week of April. There are no comparable figures for the Euro Area yet. However, despite a similar economic shock resulting from social distancing and other containment measures impacting workers and their companies, we do not expect a similar increase in unemployment in Europe.

Pandemic-related restrictions mean a large share of American workers are now working entirely from home, many for the first time.

One of the striking features of COVID-19 is that it appears to be much more dangerous for older people than for younger people. As a result, older people are more likely to stay at home and avoid having other people enter their home. As older Americans will experience a longer and more extreme social distancing, they are likely to cut back on spending more than younger people.

Labor shortages are becoming one of the main barriers for sustaining a healthy US economy, especially in industries that hire many blue-collar and manual service workers. Is this a passing phase or a long-lasting problem?