Jobs

Jobs

By: Johnathan Wiggins

We found ourselves facing a global pandemic that threatened to take thousands of lives and majorly disrupt our global economy, and in a short period of time, many of those fears became reality and continue to impact the lives and jobs of millions around the world. The goal was to help those who became unemployed or under-employed due to the pandemic, which means they get the skills they need to find and land their next job. A quarter billion people are suddenly without a job, and this is setting up the unemployed with the skills and tools they need to get a new job.

We are all facing an economy that has changed dramatically. In the U.S., the unemployment rate swung from 50-year lows to 70-year highs in just three months. The impact has been felt out of proportion by people with low incomes, women and belittled minorities. An important step in accelerating economic recovery and making sure it's inclusive is providing easier access to digital skills for those hardest hit by job losses.

46% of adults say that they have had trouble paying their bills since the pandemic started and roughly 32% of them say it's been hard for them to make rent or mortgage payments. About one-in-five or fewer middle-income adults have faced these challenges, and the shares are substantially smaller for those in the upper-income tier. Job loss has also been more acute among certain demographic groups. Overall, 25% of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household was laid off or lost their job because of the coronavirus outbreak, with most of them saying this happened to them personally. Young adults and lower income adults are among the most likely to say this has occurred in their household.

Those who say they personally lost a job, half of them say that they are still unemployed, a third have returned to their old job and 15% are in a different job then before. Lower-income adults who were laid off due to the coronavirus are less likely to be working now than middle and upper-income adults who lost their jobs. Adults from ages 18-29 are less likely than those from 30-64 to have returned to their previous job.

In the meantime, many Americans say their ability to save money has been curtailed by the recent economic upheaval. Among those who indicate they are usually able to put money into savings, 36% say they have been saving less since the coronavirus outbreak started. 44% say they have been saving the same amount as they did before.

These experiences also vary by age, with adults younger than 30 more likely than those who are older to say they or someone else has been laid off or taken a pay cut because of the outbreak.