The world is still recovering from the far-ranging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected many of the countries across the world. This article will give a comparison analysis of the social and economic effects of COVID 19 in Qatar and United States. As COVID 19 spread, governments put in place policies that would restrict its spread. Research shows that the effects of pandemics are because of preventative behaviors by the population and the transmission control policies put in place by governments. As the virus spread, governments instituted policies such as social isolation, restricting mobility, shutting down schools and limiting work. Both the US and Qatar economy suffered a direct impact on labor supply as a result of lockdowns, mortality and morbidity. Results show a trade-off between lives saved and infections averted and economic losses.
The article will give a data analysis of the effect of COVID on Qatar and United States. The article will analyze the social impact by looking at the population growth, life expectancy and the adoption of communication services such as Zoom. It will also give a data analysis of the economic impact by examining It will also give a data analysis of the economic impact by examining the GDP, inflation rates and unemployment rates. The article will explore sectors that were largely hit by the pandemic including the oil & gas sectors, manufacturing and trade. The article will be organized in paragraphs that will give an overview of the social impacts of COVID 19 in Qatar and the US. The paragraph will analyze the population and life expectancy trends pre and post COVID. This will be backed by graphs. The next paragraph will analyze the economic impacts of COVID by looking at the GDP; unemployment rates and inflation rates. Lastly, will be the conclusion paragraph that will give a summary of the article.
Social Impact
Social distancing and lockdown led to reduced labor supply and thus reduced employment rates by a drop of 3% below the baseline (Maliszewska, Mattoo, & Van Der Mensbrugghe, 2020). Qatar has been experiencing continual rise of employment at an average annual rate of 0.51%. In 2021, unemployment rate in Qatar was 0.1%. According to the Current Employment Statistics, the unemployment rate tripled in the first quarter of 2020 from 3.6% to 14.8% due to closure of businesses that resulted in layoffs. However, in the second quarter labor market recovered with the introduction of work from home and reopening of business and unemployment rates fell to 8.1%.
Fig. 1 Unemployment rates
However, the labor market varied depending on the sector. There was a differential impact on the sectors depending on whether the job can be done at home and how labor intensive the sector is. For instance, education and management is tele-workable therefore, was not hugely affected. Agriculture, construction, and hospitality are labor intensive thus were hugely affected. The US has higher unemployment rates, thus experiencing higher unemployment rates in comparison to Qatar which generally has low employment rates. COVID 19 led to an adoption of communication systems such as ZOOM that pre-pandemic had 100 million users and later experienced huge growth to 300 million users in a day. (Blake & Wadwa, 2020).
In terms of population, although there has been a consistent population growth in Qatar, there was a decline in population due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the reduced GDP. According to the US Census Bureau, the population growth period from July 1, 2020 through July 1, 2021 stood at an unprecedented low of 0.12%. This was because death rates, immigration and birth rates were impacted by the pandemic.
Fig. 2 Population Growth
Economic Impact
The oil & gas industry which was already suffering from the Saudi Arabia-Russia price war, suffered the greatest slump during the pandemic. The restriction to mobility in addition to the price war saw a reduction in oil prices. Qatar, which is a major oil & gas export country also faced reduction in demand for hydrocarbons. The fall of hydrocarbons led to a reduction of the real GDP growth in 2020 by 2%. On the other hand, the US crude oil traded at negative, further affecting the real GDP growth for the US. Real GDP decreased by 3.5% due to the decrease in services such as tourism and decrease in exports such as oil & gas that were hugely affected by the pandemic.
Fig. 3 GDP Growth
Besides the oil and gas industry, the manufacturing and trade industry was strongly affected by the lockdown that led to a reduction of activities and constraints in cash flow (KPMG 2020). Between 2020 and 2021, the US experienced a GDP loss from $3.2 trillion (14.8%) to $4.8 trillion (23.0%). This was because of the mandatory closures of businesses and the partial reopening. The COVID 19 crisis together with the oil price collapse had a negative impact on the GDP and GDP growth for both countries. Qatar experienced a decline of 4.42% from 2019 to 2021.
Fig. 4 GDP
In Qatar, there was a general decrease in the GDP which led to a decrease in the inflation rates. However, the inflation rates of the United States were not significantly affected this is because the US witnessed a stronger recovery from the pandemic because it is a larger economy in comparison to Qatar. The inflation rate and consumer prices in Qatar moved higher for the first time in 42 years with the inflation rate of 2.3%. The inflation rate for consumer prices in Qatar moved over the past 41 years between -4.9% and 15.1%.
Fig. 5 Inflation Rates
Conclusion
The COVID 19 caused major disruptions across the world and its effects have been life changing. Many people lost their lives, caused an increase in unemployment rates and created a serious impact on the economy. Education and work was shifted to a hybrid system where work and learning can take place either at home or at school or work. Despite the major challenges created, the pandemic created one of the largest global fiscal policies since World War II. The fiscal policy aims to protect the world against health crises and economic damage. Governments are also keen on improving their response to crises and pandemics.
Methodology
The first step I did was to research the unemployment rates before and during covid.
The second step I researched population growth before and during covid.
The third step I researched GDP Growth before and during covid.
The fourth step I researched GDP before and during covid.
The fifth step I researched inflation rates.
This is the dataset that I have collected.
References
Blake, P. & Wadwa, D. (2020). 2020 year in review: Impact of COVID 19 in 12 charts. World Bank. https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/2020-year-review-impact-covid-19-12-charts
KPMG (2020). Potential effects of COVID 19 on the Qatar Economy. KPMG. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/gcc/publication/economic-update-october-2020-qatar
The World Bank (2020). Qatar’s Economic Update-October 2020. The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/gcc/publication/economic-update-october-2020-qatar
World Bank Open Data. World Bank Open Data. https://data.worldbank.orghttps://data.worldbank.org/?locations=US-QA