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It’s been one week since the $600 unemployment stimulus ran out for many jobless Americans. In my blog, “Time is Running Out,” I discussed how Congress was working to put together a bill that extend these benefits and yet we still do not have a bill as partisanship persists.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since February 2020, you’ve probably noticed the economic impact worldwide of the novel corona-virus, Covid-19. There has been little to no positive news even as Governors ease restrictions and states/counties move from red to yellow to green phases, until the May 2020 unemployment rates were released days ago. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May saw an increase of 2.5 million jobs and an unemployment rate of 13.3%, down from April’s 14.7%. This number came as a overwhelmingly positive shock as most experts had predicted it to increase to near 20%, the worst figure since the Great Depression.[1]

Economic busts are no stranger to the energy industry. Workers have become familiar to the roller coaster ups and downs of employment in the energy sector, but is 2020 the year of a paradigm shift or is it simply another economic shock that shall soon pass?