The unemployment rate in the U.S. has risen from 3.5% to a 14.7% in 2020 amid the corona-virus outbreak. Looking at the figures, the country is facing the worst economic downturn since the 2008 Depression.
However, the U.S. isn’t the only country suffering from the Covid-19 collateral damage as the United Kingdom also suffered the worst economic contraction since 1709. The current economic conditions suggest that the contraction will definitely last for another year, as the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine is going on a very slow rhythm.
Nevertheless, rich countries have dealt with the Covid-19 economic damage in different ways. Take the Canadian governments that sent over $2000 per month to its citizens as an aid for jobless people. Canada concentrated on providing aid to its citizens instead of trying to provide jobs as the Covid-19 pandemic had severely hit the labor market — limiting the possibility of providing jobs for everyone.
The United States and Ireland have both followed the same strategy providing stimulus checks and unemployment benefits. The intention remains easing economic damage due to covid-19 on the jobless. However, Europe and Australia followed a different strategy and focused on providing workers’ more wages in the form of short-time working schemes and furlough programs.
Unemployment measures in the U.S. and Europe
These are not the only differences between the two groups. For example, Britain and Ireland’s “unemployment” isn’t the same as the United States’. Ireland and Britain’s Covid-19 related unemployed citizens remain tied to employers and are therefore, not considered unemployed.
