Resilience after recession: The emerging landscape for American workers and families

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have consequences for the U.S. economy and has exacerbated economic disparities facing American women, people of color, and low-wage workers. Although the recovery is narrowing those disparities, many challenges threaten to have longer-term effects: persistent inequities in labor market outcomes, greater housing insecurity, reduced access to child care, and widened disparities in educational attainment. Now is an opportune moment to assess where there have been positive developments and where new policies are needed to ensure long-term stability and opportunity for families and workers.

On Wednesday, September 29, 2021, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution hosted a webcast examining how different groups are experiencing the economic recovery from the recession and policy solutions to ensure the recovery is more broadly felt.

The webcast includeed two roundtable discussions with: David Autor (MIT), Douglas Holtz-Eakin (The American Action Forum), Wendy Edelberg (The Hamilton Project), Bradley Hardy (Georgetown University), Michelle Holder (Washington Center for Equitable Growth), Trevon Logan (The Ohio State University), Heather Long (The Washington Post), Sharon Parrott (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities), Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Heidi Shierholz (Economic Policy Institute), and Betsey Stevenson (University of Michigan).

The webcast event coincided with the release of two Hamilton Project essays and an Economic Facts piece that look at the strengths of this recovery and ongoing challenges, particularly those faced by women and communities of color.

For updates on the event, follow @HamiltonProj on Twitter. Join the conversation using #COVIDEconomy to submit questions for the panelists, or email [email protected].