Labor Markets Briefs

As of May 4, 42 percent of the total French workforce was either fully or partially unemployed, representing 12 percent of total annual hours worked and with an output equivalent of 11 percent of annual GDP. Half of that GDP loss is associated with just three industries: manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and construction.

Some of the catastrophic economic and labor market statistics from recent weeks are actually not that important. The bigger question is what happens when the economy opens. While businesses will reopen and millions will return to work, recovery is unlikely to be complete for quite a while. We discuss which consumption categories will see the biggest drop in business during the (slow) recovery.

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.