The unequal impact of COVID-19 on the labour market

We present real-time survey evidence on the labour market impacts of the coronavirus crisis in the US, UK and Germany, the role of the furloughing scheme in the UK and the relationship between workers’ ability to do their job from home and job loss. We show that the impacts of the crisis have been highly unequal, both across and within countries. We highlight the importance of workers’ ability to carry out their tasks from home as a predictor of job loss. Finally, turning to the UK furloughing scheme, we document which workers were most likely to be furloughed and analyse variation in the terms on which they were furloughed.