Special Briefing on COVID-19: Unemployment, and State and Local Fiscal Consequences

With unemployment remaining high in key service and tourism sectors, panelists discuss the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the labor market, the deterioration of the finances and credit outlooks of states and localities, and the role of further federal assistance and loans to governments, companies, and individuals. 

This special briefing features a panel of experts, including Timothy J. Bartik, senior economist, Upjohn Institute for Employment Research; Matt Fabian, partner, Municipal Market Analytics; Marcia Van Wagner, vice president-senior credit officer, Public Finance Group, States Team, Moody's Investor Service.

 Notable Quotes:

 “The total job impact of these state and local spending cuts would be to reduce the total number of jobs in the national economy by about 5 million jobs.” - Timothy Bartik “

States are very highly rated, as are most local governments. That is because they have very strong management tools, that enable them to navigate difficult economic and fiscal times.” - Marcia Van Wagner 

“In 2009 and 2010, we had about 150 payment defaults a year. So, we are not at this point projecting it will go back to that level, but we are having a rate of default that is similar for the first time.” - Matt Fabian

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The views expressed on this podcast are those of the panelists and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR.