Businesses, big and small, have to stand up for the COVID generation. Extend a hand to young graduates from the Class of Corona, offer them internships and first jobs, and bet on their future. This crisis has brought an entire generation to a halt. Students and young graduates have classes and exams cancelled…
Berlin, London, Madrid and Paris are engines of productivity growth that have long been magnets for young and skilled workers. COVID-19 has brought this boom to a halt. Indeed job posting data offer an unparalleled view of how the pandemic has transformed labour markets in Europe’s four largest capitals at the start of 2021.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the focus was squarely on cities. Urban density and shared spaces contributed to surging case numbers and deaths: before June, the rise in excess deaths was more than three times higher in large metropolitan areas compared to remote regions. But rural areas still reeled from the economic impacts. Businesses closed to comply with containment measures, trade slowed, and tourism activity all but ceased.
Going local in a global crisis – COVID-19 has unleashed the worst jobs crisis in a generation. The latest figures from the OECD’s Economic Outlook are striking. Compared to the last quarter of 2019, hours worked fell over 15% in the Euro Area, the United Kingdom and Canada in the second quarter of 2020, and by over 10% in the US.
