Corporate profits rose significantly last year. [18] During this period of unexpected shocks, the financial cycle continued to expand. The financial cycle differs from the business cycle: during the expansion phase, lending goes up and asset prices rise, risk appetite increases; when it reaches the downward swing, this can hit the real economy hard. Lending has risen sharply in recent years.
6 Occupation and industry affiliation can explain only part of these COVID-19 labor market disparities. 7 In the years before the pandemic, I was encouraged to see prime-age individuals in all demographic groups drawn into the strong labor market, reversing the previous  Staff calculations based on the microdata from the September Current Population Survey.