The experts feared that social distancing as the foremost measure to prevent the further expansion of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, would lead to job cuts in Russia in 2020. Thus, the most feasible employment reduction rate of between 10 and 15 percent could leave from five to eight million people without a job countrywide.

Coronavirus impact on the Russian economy 

The coronavirus-induced crisis, which was enhanced by the drop of crude oil prices had a drastic impact on the Russian economy, the whole effect of which is yet to be seen in the coming months and years. The expected GDP loss for 2020 in Russia was estimated at around four percent, considering that the critical phase of the crisis and the negative manifestations would affect only 2020. For scenarios with a longer period of COVID-19 impact, the forecast was less optimistic. Shopping malls were the most affected businesses in the Russian capital during the lockdown.

 Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Russia   

While there were some cases of coronavirus reported in January 2020 in the Russian territory, outbreak of the disease in the country started a bit later, in March 2020. Up to date, there were roughly 4.4 million cases of coronavirus confirmed countrywide, roughly three fourths of which has already recovered, and over 27 thousand died as a result of COVID-19. The city of Moscow has been accounting for the highest number of reported cases in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Under the restrictions placed due to coronavirus (COVID-19), 2020 has experienced one of the largest historic job losses in the United States. Likewise, the clean energy industry experienced a significant drop with over 300,000 people losing their jobs in this industry by the end of 2020. California recorded the greatest number of job losses, at 52,000. This was followed by Texas, where 17,882 clean energy jobs were cut.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unemployment and layoffs across the world, and hit youth particularly hard. While the deficit was more than eight percent among youth in 2020, it was less than half of that among adults.

This graph shows the unemployment rate forecasts following the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in France from the first quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2025. OECD predictions estimated that unemployment will increase gradually in each quarter of 2022 and 2023, before a decrease in 2024.

As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, a total 495 billion U.S. dollars of labor income were lost in the first three quarters of 2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean. In September 2020, it was estimated that this income reduction represented around 19 percent of the region's total labor income and over 10 percent of its GDP. Up until that month, Latin America lost roughly 150 million jobs due to the pandemic.

Compared to February 2020, roughly 24.4 thousand people have become unemployed and 39.2 thousand people temporarily laid off mainly because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Finland. As of November 2020, the highest spike in the numbers of unemployed jobseekers and temporary layoffs during 2020 was recorded between March 30 and April 5 (week 14).

COVID-19 impact on unemployment Although the full-blown consequences of the coronavirus pandemic remain uncertain, the monthly unemployment rate spiked in Finland in May 2020. While many people have lost their jobs, even a larger group of people have been temporarily laid off. In order to avoid mass layoffs in companies, the Finnish government reduced the period of notice before layoff until 31 December 2020. However, it remains to be seen, to what extent temporary coronavirus layoffs turn permanent in the long run. Nonetheless, based on a forecast, the unemployment is expected to stay at a higher level in the upcoming years than before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Uneven prospects As of April 2020, the majority of Finnish people were still not particularly worried about the risk of losing a job or income because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, especially students are at risk of losing their income, as seasonal work has become scarce due to restrictions and business closures. This can potentially lead to long-term negative consequences for the income and career development of young people.

The majority of companies in Romania will apply for technical unemployment because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on their business activities. However, due to different reasons, over one-third of respondents were not sure if they could apply for technical unemployme

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

From April to June of 2020, Peru was one of the Latin American countries whose level of employment suffered the highest decline due to the COVID-19 crisis. Compared to the second quarter of 2019, Peru's employment among women decreased more than 57 percent. Among the economies shown in this graph, Mexico was the only one to register a higher decrease in employment among men than women.

The seasonally-adjusted national unemployment rate is measured on a monthly basis in the United States. In February 2025, the national unemployment rate was at 4.1 percent. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical method of removing the seasonal component of a time series that is used when analyzing non-seasonal trends. U.S. monthly unemployment rate According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics - the principle fact-finding agency for the U.S. Federal Government in labor economics and statistics - unemployment decreased dramatically between 2010 and 2019. This trend of decreasing unemployment followed after a high in 2010 resulting from the 2008 financial crisis. However, after a smaller financial crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment reached 8.1 percent in 2020. As the economy recovered, the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 in 2021, and fell even further in 2022. Additional statistics from the BLS paint an interesting picture of unemployment in the United States. In November 2023, the states with the highest (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate were the Nevada and the District of Columbia. Unemployment was the lowest in Maryland, at 1.8 percent. Workers in the agricultural and related industries suffered the highest unemployment rate of any industry at seven percent in December 2023.

As of January 2021, 70 percent of the respondents of Nigerians reported being employed or active at work. This was the lowest rate of employment recorded since June 2020, when it stood at 72 percent. Parallel to the global outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), employment was reported at its lowest rate in April and May of 2020, as only 43 percent of the respondents said they were still actively working. This was considered a great drop of employment rate compared to the beginning of 2020, as the number of unemployed individuals almost doubled.

As of April 7, 2020, it is estimated that roughly 11.2 million people working in air travel related industries in the Asia Pacific region will lose their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak. In the Middle East this number will be equivalent to under one million unemployed people.

According to a forecast from May 2024, the unemployment rate in Italy could reach 7.5 percent by the end of the year, two percentage points less than 2021, when the COVID-19 outbreak had a disastrous impact on the labor market. The rate is then expected to drop to 7.3 percent in 2025. Weak employment situation Unemployment in Italy started increasing after the 2008 financial crisis and peaked at 12.7 percent in 2014. It mostly affected the young population. Similarly, the youth unemployment rate also increased significantly during the same period, reaching over 40 percent in 2014. Even if the figures decreased in the following years, in 2022 the rates were still particularly high in the southern regions. Indeed, the youth unemployment rate in the regions of Sicily and Campania stood at around 43 percent. COVID-19 impact on the economy The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak had a serious impact on Italy’s economy. In June 2020, most Italian respondents declared that the coronavirus pandemic had impacted or would impact their personal incomes in the future. In addition, the fear of losing the job due to the pandemic has been increasing in the country, with more than half of respondents worrying about this in July 2020.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in Norway, many people have lost their jobs. This was especially the case for employees in the tourism and transportation sector. Before the coronavirus outbreak, the unemployment rate in the sector amounted to 3.4 percent. After the outbreak of COVID-19, however, the rate increased to 13.6 percent. Compared to other significantly affected industries, such as industrial work, the unemployment rate in the tourism and transportation sector was more than twice as high.

Traveling and tourism

As of July 2020, many companies in the traveling and tourism industry had completed layoffs. In detail, 85 percent of travel agencies and 95 percent of hotels had laid off employees due to the coronavirus crisis. The extent of these layoffs unfolded slightly differently in the two sectors: While 65 percent of travel agencies dismissed between 76 and 100 percent of their employees, 81 percent of hotels had to do the same.

Unemployment

Despite the significant rise in unemployment levels in Norway since March 2020, the number of unemployed individuals gradually decreased as of April 2020 before increasing again. While over 300,000 people were unemployed by the end of March 2020, the number had nearly halved by June 2020. As of February 2021, roughly 124 people registered as unemployed.

As of May 2022, the unemployment rate in India was recorded at nearly seven percent, a decrease from the previous month. While the unemployment rate had significantly declined over the course of 2021 since having peaked in April 2020, the breakout of new coronavirus variants coupled with recurring lockdowns resulted in a fluctuating trend of unemployment gripping the nation.

The trickle-down effect

Between February and April 2020, the share of households that experienced a fall in income shot up to nearly 46 percent. Inflation rates on goods and services including food products and fuel were expected to rise later this year. Social distancing resulted in job losses, specifically those within Indian society’s lower economic strata. Several households terminated domestic help services – essentially an unorganized monthly-paying job. Most Indians spent a large amount of time engaging in household chores themselves, making it the most widely practiced lockdown activity.

Aid from the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana

The most devastating impact of the virus and the lockdown had been on the economically backward classes, with limited access to proper healthcare and other resources. As a result the government launched various programs and campaigns to help sustain such households. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, 312 billion Indian rupees were accrued and provided to around 331 million beneficiaries that included women, construction workers, farmers, and senior citizens. More aid was announced in mid-May, to mainly support small businesses through the crisis.

In an opinion poll conducted late March 2020, 33 percent of New York State residents surveyed said they or someone in their household had lost their job as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

In Poland, due to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) in 2020, almost half of the employees are worried that they will not get paid or lose their jobs, and 34 percent of respondents are already looking for a new job.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

A majority of U.S. adults support continuing increased unemployment benefits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an August 2020 survey. With the additional payments having expired on July 31, 2020, 33 percent of respondents believed that Congress should renew the payments at the full amount of 600 U.S. dollars per week, while another 34 percent thought the payments should be renewed but at a lower amount.

By the fourth quarter of 2020, it was estimated that the coronavirus pandemic had claimed around 157 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean, making it one of the regions with the largest number of jobs lost due to COVID-19 in the world. South America was particularly hit by the economic crisis, with an estimated 55 million full-time jobs of 48 hours per week lost in the second quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, the Caribbean was the least affected subregion.

According to a survey in August 2020, people on middle incomes of between 50,000 and 100,000 U.S. dollars per year were less likely to support continuing increased unemployment benefits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the additional payments having expired on July 31, 2020, 24 percent of middle-income respondents believed that Congress should cease the payments, compared to 18 percent of respondents earning below 50,000 U.S. dollars, and 16 percent of respondents earning above 100,000 U.S. dollars.

This statistic presents the number of layoffs that could potentially be triggered by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Spain, as projected in March 2020 and based on different scenarios. Should a 30-day restriction nationwide apply with a drop in trade, hospitality, transport and leisure activities by 100 percent, the Spanish employment could see almost 1.4 million people losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.