The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) published two Quarter 2 Economic Insights Briefings.
Job Losses and Physical Proximity reports on how physical closeness in the working environment impacted job loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report notes that approximately 70% of workers in Accommodation and Food Services, Healthcare, and Retail work in occupations with high physical proximity to others, while 10% or fewer office-based workers in Finance, Management, and Professional Services work in high proximity with one another.
The largest percentage of job losses was among high-proximity workers, and this report breaks down job losses more closely by profession.
Job Losses During the Coronavirus Pandemic, February to May 2020 surveys employment data from state and national job reports from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for April and May, created to ascertain the magnitude and progression of job loss, identify sectors most impacted, and consider simple drivers in the differences between fields.
Overall, national job losses peaked in mid-April at 15%, recovering slightly to 13% in May. However, state job losses ranged from 8% to 20%. While high-proximity jobs saw the highest losses, so did jobs tied to nonessential goods and services, due to consumer deferment of such goods and services. Job losses in manufacturing and construction appear to be a secondary effect of pandemic-induced contractions in services.
