COVID Shrinks the Labor Market, Pushing Out Women and Baby Boomers

The Wall Street Journal reports that the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be accelerating retirements, with about 3.2 million more baby boomers saying they were out of work due to retirement in the third quarter than in the same period a year earlier, according to Pew Research. From 2011 through 2019, the number of retired baby boomers increased at a rate of about 2 million annually. Labor-force participation among workers 55 and up logged in at 38.7 percent in October, down from 40.3 percent in February. Unlike previous recessions, the current distress is making it especially difficult for parents, women in particular, to find employment because of school closures and the loss of child care. "If we don't get all the workers back, we can never have a V-shaped recovery," warned University of Michigan Professor Betsey Stevenson. "Everybody should be worried about making sure that we don't leave workers behind."