Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERARURE
This chapter presents the review of related literature which covers the information about
the unemployment in this time of pandemic with the assistance of the sources utilized from the
past analyst and the data gathered from them. This chapter also includes the conceptual
framework and definition of terms.
Unemployment
The pandemic have brought many casualties to the lives of many people.
Unemployment is one of main problem many people are facing today. Yet, work has always
been a domain where individuals experience distress and marginalization. However, in the
current pandemic and into the unforeseeable future, unemployment exponentially increase. And
it has devastating effects on the psychological, economic, and social well-being of individuals
and communities (Blustein, 2019).
Even the government seems like they does not have a solution for this problem because
of the huge puzzle they are trying to solve. Unemployed people have nothing left with them but
the money they have saved before. Most of the employer cannot give the benefits employees
deserved since they have lost the company or business and the government cannot give support
to people who have lost their jobs since the pandemic is indeed a huge problem. Millions of
workers in the U.S. have precarious jobs that are uncertain in the continuity and amount of work,
do not pay a living wage, do not give workers power to advocate for their needs, or do not
provide access to basic benefits (Kalleberg, 2009). Forward-looking governments and
organizations (such as universities) should begin thinking about how to deal with the immediate
and long-term consequences of the economic crisis created by COVID-19, especially in the area
of unemployment. Creating meaningful interventions to assist the newly unemployed will be
difficult because of the unprecedented number of individuals and families that are affected and
because of the diverse contextual and personal factors that characterize this new population.
Because of this diversity of contextual and personal factors, different interventions will be
required for different patterns of individual/contextual characteristics (Ferreira et al., 2015).
Most of the affected employees were the young ones. The one who just started the job
and the one who is not yet stable or permanent in the position. As reflected in a recent
International Labor Organization (2020a) report on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, youth
were already vulnerable within the workforce prior to the crisis; the recent advent of massive job
losses and precarious growing of work is having particularly painful impacts on young people
across the globe. The COVID-19 economic crisis with vast increases in unemployment (and
competition between workers) and the probable growth of digitalization may result in a major
dislocation of young workers from the labor market for some time (International Labor
Organization, 2020b).
COVID-19 pandemic
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a significant effect on labor
market metrics for every state, economic sector, and major demographic group in the United
States. The deterioration in the U.S. labor market corresponded with various advisory or
mandated stay at-home orders implemented in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019
(COVID-19) pandemic and other pandemic-related factors affecting U.S. demand. States and
localities implemented these orders to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 after it was declared a
pandemic disease by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Because of the order
mandated by the government to stay at-home for the safety of everyone, many people have lost
their job. Those who work with physical needs and cannot be replaced by any online platform.
The prevailing recession of employment was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was an
abrupt and exogenous shock to the economy. The pandemic resulted in rapidly implemented
efforts to limit contact among individuals and many shutdown orders. Therefore, the trends in the
unemployment rate in the current recession differ from those in prior recessions The current
recession exhibited an unprecedented sharp increase in the unemployment rate (10.3 percentage
points) from February to April 2020. Following April, the rate declined rapidly (6.4 percentage
points from April 2020 to August 2020) as temporarily furloughed workers returned to work.
Despite these rapid declines, the unemployment rate remains at an elevated level (6.1%)
compared to February 2020. The share of workers on furlough has declined since peaking in
April 2020, while the share of permanently laid off workers has steadily increased. Although
economic projections have generally improved since early in the recession, the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) has projected that unemployment rates over 5.0% will persist over the next
two years.
