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. 2022 Feb 22;161(1):125–148. doi: 10.1111/ilr.12230

Is this time really different? How the impact of the COVID‐19 crisis on labour markets contrasts with that of the global financial crisis of 2008–09

Sher VERICK 1,✉, Dorothea SCHMIDT‐KLAU 2, Sangheon LEE 3
PMCID: PMC8444938  PMID: 34548687

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in a more severe labour market crisis in 2020 than that witnessed during the 2009 global financial crisis. As a consequence of lockdown measures, which have been the main cause of damage to labour markets, the deepest impacts in 2020 have been found in middle‐income economies, while certain sectors, such as accommodation and food services, and groups, especially young women, have proved to be particularly vulnerable. Contrary to adjustment processes during the global financial crisis, the COVID‐19 crisis has resulted in a greater rise in inactivity than in unemployment. Policy support needs to be maintained to avoid an unequal recovery.

Keywords: COVID‐19 crisis, global financial crisis, unemployment, employment, developing countries, labour market analysis

 

The authors acknowledge comments provided by Mauricio Dierckxsens of the ILO and two anonymous referees.

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

This article is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 161(1), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 141(1).

Contributor Information

Sher VERICK, Email: verick@ilo.org.

Dorothea SCHMIDT‐KLAU, Email: schmidt@ilo.org.

Sangheon LEE, Email: lees@ilo.org.

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