A new study from Adecco Group found that South Korea appears to have the most effective strategy to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, both in terms of economic and health indicators.

Building on an Adecco Group analysis of October 2020, the study examines government responses over two timeframes. First, it analysed a country’s performance since the beginning of the pandemic (January 2020 – October 2021). Within a second timeframe, it analysed how well governments have recovered since the peaks of the crisis passed (July 2020 – October 2021). Adecco Group evaluated the peaks of the crisis in terms of GDP and found that the second quarter of 2020 suffered the greatest loss of GDP compared to the previous year.

The study focused on 20 countries from three global regions: Americas: Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States; Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK;  Asia-Pacific: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

Adecco Group’s study also looked at macroeconomic indicators, health indicators, public policies to support businesses, public policies to support workers as well as other indicators.

The study showed that South Korea’s effective strategy was followed by Australia and New Zealand.

“Those countries were able to avoid a surge in deaths and cases, without affecting economic activity,” the report stated.

According to the report, while the South Korean government has spent 6.4% of its GDP since January 2020 in fiscal measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic, making it the third most frugal country, it has used a wide range of economic policies and provided support to both businesses and workers. Businesses were able to obtain low-interest loans, are granted subsidies to cover their business costs, and are able to avail themselves of short-term work compensation schemes.

“Workers have seen their access to sick pay eased and the application process for unemployment benefits simplified,” the study stated. “Moreover, financial support has been made available to low-income individuals, both in the form of low interest loans and child subsidies.”

The report added that unlike other countries those support measures are still in place today.

Analysing the difference in the rate of unemployment from 2019 to 2021, Adecco observed that Australia and South Korea show the smallest change in unemployment by only increasing by 1.3% and 1.5% respectively, as a result of the crisis. At the other end of the scale, the US exhibited the largest relative increase in unemployment by a large margin: 47% in 2021 compared to 2019.

Brazil and the UK were found to be examples of poor management during the crisis.

In the UK, the quarterly GDP figure has consistently been less than the previous period, meaning the economy has not rebounded.

Meanwhile, Brazil suffered from the greatest number of deaths per capita, and the employment rate of the country, as well as the stock market index, have been severely impacted since the beginning of the crisis, this despite the fact that the country has invested 9.2% of its GDP in support measures, targeted at both businesses and employees.

For more information related to Covid-19 pandemic figures, click here to visit SIA’s Coronavirus (Covid-19) Resource Center.