from Hacker News

Millions of U.S. Jobs to Be Lost for Years, IRS Projections Show

by spy888 on 8/20/20, 9:29 PM with 10 comments

  • by throw149102 on 8/21/20, 12:15 AM

    What's going to happen when these 37.2 million jobs are lost? Are these people just going to starve on the streets? Do they have financial resources that they didn't know they had? I find myself frustrated whenever reading about the job losses because things are always phrased in the abstract, like "The agency expects that $METRIC will be down 40% in the next decade." I don't know what that means for the people who are actually going through this catastrophe.

    I also seriously question these sorts of projections, especially out as far as a decade. There's so many variables and unknowns, and I'm not certain how the IRS arrives at this conclusion, and it's not clear what assumptions they're making in their projections.

    What I really need is a recent comprehensive source on how COVID is affecting the economy. Right now all the information is coming in piece-meal and I have no idea what to make of it all.

  • by not_really on 8/20/20, 11:15 PM

  • by zxcvbn4038 on 8/21/20, 12:00 AM

    They really painted themselves into a corner with the low interest rates, though I was never convinced that quarter basis point adjustments really made people magically withdraw money and go on a spending spree anyway. It always seemed more like a “we did something” placebo. Could just as easily be a ceremony where once a month the president goes to the treasury and pushes a big “Fix economy” button or maybe he’ll push the “Ruin economy” button, cue speculation and suspense.

  • by peacefulhat on 8/21/20, 3:26 AM

    37.2 million less jobs seems crazy. What does that mean? That's not in line with BLS data which has much smaller peak job loss and quick recovery

    https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12000000

    Maybe employees with multiple employers?

  • by Fjolsvith on 8/22/20, 12:59 AM

    The crazy thing is that more jobs have come back than were created during the previous administration's two terms.