Unemployment rates rise due to COVID-19 pandemic

Question

This claim is correct based on the Federation of American Scientists article that states, "This rise in unemployment was caused by an unprecedented loss of 22.1 million jobs between January 2020 and April 2020". This article discusses how because of the pandemic, many individuals lost their jobs and became unemployed. It also states how the recession that the COVID-19 pandemic caused, was the shortest recession on record. This claim is not misinformation and is backed up by the reliable source of the Federation of American Scientists. 

Answer 1

This claim is true.

According to the Congressional Research Service and their research on "Unemployment rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic," rates of unemployment were high due to covid, their research states: "In April 2020, the unemployment rate reached 14.8%—the highest rate observed since data collection began in 1948. In July 2021, unemployment remained higher (5.4%) than it had been in February 2020 (3.5%)." This data shows that during the dates of the pandemic, unemployment rate had jumped from 3.5% to 14.8 in a matter of 2 months, from February to April 2020. This is due to the pandemic causing stay-at-home orders and people not going out. (https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R46554.pdf)

The PEW Research Center also highlights different statistics that shows the unemployment rates during COVID-19 and compares the rates with the Great Recession and gender groups, race groups, age, and more. (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/11/unemployment-rose-higher-in-three-months-of-covid-19-than-it-did-in-two-years-of-the-great-recession/).

Answer 2

I agree with you. This claim is true. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the civilian employment rate decreased by 8.8 million in 2020. This was right after the largest economic expansion right before the pandemic. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated, "Total civilian employment, as measured by the Current Population Survey (CPS), fell by 21.0 million from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, while the unemployment rate more than tripled, from 3.6 percent to 13.0 percent. This was the highest quarterly average unemployment rate in the history of the CPS." This claim is backed up by several reliable sources.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/article/unemployment-rises-in-2020-as-the-country-battles-the-covid-19-pandemic.htm

Answer 3

This claim is true. Covid-19 increased unemployment rates drastically. Due to business having to temporarily close or close completely, lots of jobs were lost. Additionally, many jobs were changed to virtual, making a lot of former jobs unnecessary.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/tracking-the-covid-19-economys-effects-on-food-housing-and#:~:text=The%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic%20and,unemployment%20remained%20high%20throughout%202020.

Answer 4

According to the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate increased dramatically in the height of the COVID-19. Due to the major shut down throughout the country, more and more jobs started to decrease the amount of workers needed. This then resulted in the increase in unemployment rate. Despite this, recent trends show that employment is still attempting to recover from this dip, and working to provide more jobs.

Source: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2022/article/us-labor-market-shows-improvement-in-2021-but-the-covid-19-pandemic-continues-to-weigh-on-the-economy.htm#:~:text=The%20recession%20induced%20by%20the,to%20leave%20the%20labor%20force.

Answer 5

This statement is true. According to Pew Research, “The number of unemployed people was 6.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, a decrease of 4.1 million from a year earlier.” A article named “U.S. labor market shows improvement in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on the economy”, emphasizes that “the unemployment rate averaged 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, which is 2.6 percentage points below the rate in the fourth quarter of 2020.” This quote means that the unemployment rates increased during 2020-21.

Answer 6

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the global economy, and the unemployment rate has been one of the key indicators of this impact. The pandemic led to widespread lockdowns and social distancing measures, which forced many businesses to close or reduce their operations. This resulted in a sharp increase in the number of people who lost their jobs, either temporarily or permanently, as companies struggled to stay afloat.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557984/

Answer 7

This claim is true. Unemployment rates did rise due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

Pew Research Center explains, "The Covid-19 outbreak and the economic downturn it engendered swelled the ranks of unemployed Americans by more than 14 million, from 6.2 million in February to 20.5 million in May 2020. As a result, the U.S. unemployment rate shot up from 3.8% in February...to 13.0% in May." 

The Congressional Research Service corroborates, "The unemployment rate peaked at an unprecedented level, not seen since data collection started in 1948, in April 2020 (14.8%) before declining to a still elevated level in February 2021 (6.2%) relative to February 2020 (3.5%)."

The Congressional Research Service link also has graphs within it, if you are interested in seeing visuals with the data. 

I would also recommend this link: https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/jobtracker/ from Georgetown University. It provides interactive data sets, where you can see unemployment based on different factors such as age, gender, and industry. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/11/unemployment-rose-higher-in-three-months-of-covid-19-than-it-did-in-two-years-of-the-great-recession/

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46554/9

https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/jobtracker/

Comments

The Georgetown link is so insightful! Also all the hyperlinks and sources really strengthened your fact-check, and the data you listed was helpful.

Answer 8

Unemployment rates increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This assertion is true. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Unemployment rises in 2020, as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic. Total civilian employment fell by 8.8 million over the year, as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the economic expansion to a sudden halt, taking a tremendous toll on the U.S. labor market.” As indicated by the BLS, unemployment clearly rose during the pandemic. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, “Unemployment rose higher in three months of COVID-19 than it did in two years of the Great Recession”. I would claim that this assertion is true. However, if one increased the scope of the overall pandemic to multiple years, the data could be portrayed differently. However, the claim is indicating that COVID-19 caused unemployment to rise. This statement is therefore true. 

 

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/11/unemployment-rose-higher-in-three-months-of-covid-19-than-it-did-in-two-years-of-the-great-recession/

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/article/unemployment-rises-in-2020-as-the-country-battles-the-covid-19-pandemic.htm