If you have a job or a steady income from other sources, it can be easy to sometimes forget the United States is in a recession. After all, you have money coming in and the S&P 500 index has largely, though not entirely, recovered from its steep drop that began in mid-February triggered by the worldwide spread of COVID-19. It's not wise, however, to bury your head in the sand to some hard facts. In the last couple of months, the U.S. unemployment rate has been higher than at any time since the Great Depression and the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening in this country. This is extremely troubling from several aspects, including an economic one.

The novel coronavirus pandemic is certainly not good for the labor market. Recent weeks have seen unemployment claims surge to record levels as businesses and entire industries shutter in order to stop the spread of the Covid-19. As a result, the economy has plummeted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 down more than 20 percent from their February highs. While social distancing measures may be temporary, this economic downturn's effect on the labor market will have long-lasting effects. In a joint post with his colleagues, Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, recently wrote, "any coronavirus-related recession is likely to bring about a spike in labor-replacing automation."