The Covid pandemic inflicted sustained pain and hardship on too many for too long. The effect on our economy, however, is mixed.

The shock to the economy occurred in March and April of 2020. In the United States, 24.7 million persons lost their jobs. Of these, 16.3 million (66 percent) were added to the numbers unemployed and 8.4 million left the labor force.

Morton Marcus is an economist. Reach him at mortonjmarcus@yahoo.com. Follow his views and those of John Guy on Who gets what? wherever podcasts are available or at mortonjohn.libsyn.com