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Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Have states with fewer COVID-19 restrictions fared better economically?

By Austin Tannenbaum
YES

According to Politico, "States that shut down only briefly – or not at all – rebounded far quicker than those that remained closed" across metrics such as GDP, jobs and unemployment in 2021. Republican-led states, which adopted more lax COVID-19 policies, represented eight of the top 10 economies, while Democrat-led states, which adopted stricter COVID-19 policies, represented eight of the bottom 10 economies.

This trend has continued into 2022: Labor Department data show that red states have added 341,000 jobs since February 2020—the month before the pandemic hit—while blue states have lost 1.3 million, as of May.

However, in 2020, states with stricter COVID-19 rules had better economic outcomes. The faculty director of UCLA's Anderson School of Management explained that people are more likely to shop at businesses if they feel safe and that states with lax policies experienced work absenteeism due to higher infection rates. This discrepancy between years may be explained by the fact that initially fearful and vulnerable individuals became less cautious and more immune to COVID-19 as the pandemic progressed.

The New York Times noted that blue states, which tend to have service-based economies and higher costs of living, were more susceptible to pandemic-related disruptions, as lockdowns shuttered a larger percentage of their economies and city dwellers relocated to less expensive parts of the U.S.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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