“Following seven consecutive years of straight employment gains, chemical industry employment is set to fall by nearly 20,000 to 524,000 in 2020,” according to Dr. Thomas Kevin Swift, CBE, chief economist and managing director, American Chemistry Council, Washington, D.C. Swift presented a mid-year update on the State of the Chemical Industry for Chemical Processing’s webinar series.
Swift noted that prior to February 2020 there was a 128-month uptick in the economy. He stated that the downturn was fast but the recovery could be equally as quick, pending there isn’t a second surge of Covid-19 cases worldwide.
“High-frequency data suggest a bottoming of activity, which is expected to accelerate as restrictions are lifted, but the 2020 outlook remains one of the worst in decades. As the industrial sector has been pummeled from Covid-19 closures, demand destruction, and logistical challenges, global industrial production is expected to contract by 3.8% in 2020 before improving by 5.3% in 2021,” Swift says.
You can view the on-demand version of the Mid-Year update including more guidance from Swift here.
