Open AccessTHE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF COVID-19 MITIGATION POLICIES ON UNEMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC POLICY UNCERTAINTY
Author(s) -
Anasuya Haldar,
Narayan Sethi
Publication year - 2022
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 2460-9196
DOI - 10.21098/bemp.v25i0.1833
Subject(s) - unemployment , economics , covid-19 , government (linguistics) , consumer confidence index , unemployment rate , economic policy , inequality , labour economics , demographic economics , economic growth , macroeconomics , medicine , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This paper examines the effects of government COVID-19 mitigation strategies and Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) on unemployment-rate over the period November 2019 to April 2021 for the 16 most severely COVID-19 affected countries. Our specific objectives are threefold: first, to examine the dynamic relationship between EPU and unemployment-rate; second, to analyze the extent to which government’s COVID-19 mitigation response affects the unemployment-rate; and third, to examine indirectly the effects of government economic policies on the unemployment-rate through market indicators, such as the business and consumer confidence indices. We find that EPU increases fluctuations in unemployment for the COVID-19 affected countries, while governments’ vaccination drive significantly reduces it. Increases in government stringency aggravate unemployment in the informal sectors and enhances labor inequality.