.... typically, during recessions and in their aftermath, there are declines in labor force participation among young people and increases in school enrollment... However, during the COVID-19 recession, young people have behaved differently than this age cohort did during the prior two recessions and differently from older cohorts. Since February 2020, young adults have spent less time on education, spent more time in the work force, and experienced better wage outcomes than over the same period following the onset of the 2001 and 2008 recessions. At the same time, more in keeping with previous postrecession periods, we find that disengagement, defined as time spent neither in education nor the labor force, has risen.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/10/14/has-covid-disrupted-the-postsecondary-pipeline/
