Amy Hagerman

One potential driver of economic resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic was the ability to telework. This paper estimates the factors influencing changes in unemployment rates for states in the Southeastern US during two distinct periods: (1) the initial months of the pandemic, and (2) the recovery experienced from April through December 2020. Our results suggest industrial composition and demographic factors were strongly associated with the early rise in unemployment and the subsequent decline during the first nine months of the pandemic.