27 October 2020
The current recession is different from previous economic recessions due to severe government interventions to try and contain a pandemic outbreak including locking down the economy (nationally or locally), implementing quarantines and employing social distancing rules. The magnitude and speed of change in the UK and global economy is also unlike previous recessions. Added to this is the uncertainty around how long the current recession will persist as it is highly dependent on the epidemiology of the virus, development of medical treatments, discovery of vaccines and population behaviour.
IFoA Fellow Scott Reid and Affiliate Member Nicola Oliver have been working as part of the IFoA Covid-19 Action TaskForce (ICAT) and have published ‘Economic hardship, health and Covid-19’. This paper is focused on mental health outcomes as a result of the economic consequences of COVID-19 on employment. The aim is to create a discussion within the profession regarding the impact of unemployment on population health and wellbeing, and the subsequent insurance claims implications.
Further details of Covid-19 and Pandemic research can be found on the IFoA Pandemics Hub.