Measuring the Economic Impact of Covid-19 in Real Time

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic is a one-in-a-hundred year event. The economic consequences are unlike anything we have seen in modern times, in terms of scale, speed and depth of the shock. Restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus, saw many sectors closed for extended periods since March 2020. Firms and workers providing face-to-face services such as non-essential retail, accommodation and food services, travel and tourism and, at various times, construction have been hit particularly hard. Private consumption in 2020 fell by 9 per cent compared to 2019, with modified domestic demand down by 5.4 per cent (CSO, 2021). At the peak, in early May 2020, over 1.2 million people were supported by the State for their incomes, almost half the labour force. In March 2021 that number is stands at 953,000.