David Swenson, associate scientist, was interviewed for an April 11 Gazette story, "Medical news key to recovery, economists say."
Dave Swenson, Iowa State University economist, said until a large section of the population has had COVID-19 or been vaccinated, it is unrealistic to expect anything like business as usual.
“How long is that going to take? We know that a vaccine may be 12 to 18 months away,” Swenson said. “We are perhaps sometime next summer slowly reacquiring all levels of output across all industries.
“Until that time, the coronavirus is probably going to continue to interfere with the economy.”
There will likely be a substantial recovery in several sectors, Swenson said, with people able to go to work in the summer or the fall.
Swenson answered questions from Beau Bownam, KCCI, about the importance of Iowa’s meat packing industry and whether the outbreaks in plants is a cause for concern for the nation’s food supply.
And Chris Walker, Burlington Hawkeye, about the tradeoffs between coronavirus mitigation and economic wellbeing.
And talked with Donna Smith, KCCI; and Trent Rice, WHO Radio, about the drop in oil prices.
Swenson was quoted in an April 19 Pilot Tribune story, "The Class of COVID-19."
Most teens and young adults were too young to absorb the economic instability of the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009, said Dave Swenson, an economics professor at Iowa State University. But COVID-19 will undoubtedly shake high school students, especially since the worst is yet to come, Swenson said. Students who were unsure whether or not to attend college will likely go.
Job competition will be fierce as teens compete with displaced adults for work. And the overall weight of a recession will change career and school trajectories and expectations. “It will affect their outlook,” Swenson said.