As job prospects dry up people stop actively looking for work – effectively leaving the labour force. This discouraged worker effects means the published unemployment rate can be lower than the true number of people who are actually out of work. The physical constraints of lockdown also affected people’s ability to actively seek employment opportunities – even with the best of intentions. People were confined to their homes and businesses were closed. As a consequence, it was actually impossible for a lot of people to look for work. Therefore, a large number of the unemployed were considered outside the labour force, ... (full story)