Brookings Institution: Equivalent Drop and Baby Bust

brookings institution: Research published last week by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, predicted the U.S. could see 300,000 to 500,000 fewer births next year, according to CTV. But could Canada see an equivalent drop in birth numbers Or are the two countries -- and the way the pandemic has impacted them -- different enough that Canada will fare slightly better Newsletter sign-up Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox Economists Melissa S. Kearney and Phillip Levine wrote in Brookings that economic factors have a lot more to do with babies than you might think. However, experts say that we might be in for a baby bust, and see birth rates fall due in part to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. Unemployment rates correlate with a decrease in birth rates, the report says, noting that a one percentage-point increase in state-year unemployment rates is associated with a 0.9 to 2.2 percent decrease in birth rates in the U.S. The authors pointed out that an economic downturn that only lasts a short period of time is unlikely to create a huge change in birth rates. A deeper and longer lasting recession will then mean lower lifetime income for some people, which means that some women will not just delay births, but they will decide to have fewer children, the report states. But an event such as COVID-19 that affects so many levels of the economy -- and has caused layoffs on such a grand scale -- is more likely to have a lasting impact. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.