How the Covid Pandemic Will Follow Today’s Kids into Adulthood
In a recent Wall Street Journal Special Report, “How the Covid Pandemic Will Follow Today’s Kids into Adulthood”, Alexander Willén suggests that the long-term impact of the COVID-19 generated school closures for children can be substantial.
Two of Willén's previous studies on school closures (generated by teacher strikes) in Argentina have shown that children attain less education, accrue fewer skills, and, as adults have higher rates of unemployment than students who were not affected by school closures. This hurts parents too: mothers appear to respond to these closures by exiting the labor force to provide short-term care, amplifying pre-existing gender differences in the labor market. Since short-run results of the pandemic seem to be aligned very well, there is a case for assuming school closings may have similar impact in the long run.