Identifying key indicators of job loss trends during COVID-19 and beyond

COVID-19, declared by the World Health Organization as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, has claimed over 2.7 million lives worldwide. In the absence of vaccinations, social distancing and lockdowns emerged as the means to curb infection spread, with the downside of bringing the world economy to a standstill. In this work, we explore the epidemiological, socioeconomic and demographic factors affecting the unemployment rates of United States that may contribute towards policymaking to contain contagion and mortality while balancing the economy in the future. We identify the ethnic groups and job sectors that are affected by the pandemic and demonstrate that Gross Domestic Product (GDP), race, age group, lockdown severity and infected count are the key indicators of post-COVID job loss trends.