A quarterly update of workforce, employment, state GCP, and exports FEBRUARY 2021

Very quickly, Kentucky became the state with the highest number of unemployed workers, small businesses were closing, and our workforce participation rate plummeted to the lowest in the nation. [...] Associate Professor of Economics and Director, Center for Business and Economic Research Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky When the state issued social distancing orders and businesses suspended operations to curb the spread of the virus, Kentucky’s employment declined by just over 326,000 jobs and output plummeted. [...] Kentucky has now recovered 65 percent of the jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic. [...] The unemployment rate equals the number of 60 people unemployed divided by the number of people in the labor force. [...] As of December, Kentucky had recovered 65 percent of the jobs lost during the fi rst months of the pandemic.