Date of Graduation
12-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Economics
Advisor/Mentor
Koh, Don
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom experienced extremely low unemployment rates compared to similarly developed nations. As a result of the ensuing national recessions, the United States’ and Canada’s Phillip’s Curves shifted, while the United Kingdom’s remained steady. Each of these three nations pursued relatively similar monetary and fiscal policies; however, the United Kingdom’s government-supported wage policy had different requirements and specifications than that of the United States’ and Canada’s. The United Kingdom’s government-supported wage policy prioritized saving jobs while the United States’ and Canada’s policies prioritized saving firms, leading to the disparity in national unemployment rates observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. There exists a balance between saving employment and saving production during a national recession that each government must walk carefully to provide the maximum welfare to their citizens.
Keywords
COVID; Government Supported Wages; Monetary Policy; Unemployment
Citation
Arney, T. (2022). An Anomaly in Unemployment Rates: A Comparative Analysis of Federal Governments’ Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/econuht/46
