NULab core faculty Alicia Sasser Modestino, associate director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, was recently quoted by the State House News Service, and referenced by the Boston Herald, for her take on recent data about the unemployment rate during COVID-19. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that seasonally adjusted unemployment decreased in May by 1.4 percent, and is now at 13 percent.
Professor Modestino qualified this seemingly positive report by emphasizing broader figures, which show that 21.2% of working-age Americans remain either jobless, underemployed, or discouraged from looking for work. She continued with cautious optimism: “I do think it’s a little bit of a fragile recovery at this point. We are by no means out of the woods, but I think it’s an encouraging start and really the next two, three, four months will tell us where we are.”
