A staggering 22.03 million initial claims for unemployment benefits were filed from mid-March to mid-April as the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing stay-at-home policies took hold across the country. Just a month earlier, in February, new claims fell to 211,000 on average per week, the lowest level since November 1969. For additional perspective, 9.07 million new claims were filed during all of the Great Recession, from December 2007 to June 2009. Among policymakers and economic analysts, an important question is what the response of the labor market will look like in the short and medium terms. A simple but useful way ... (full story)