Although heavily affected by the Coronavirus epidemic, the United States has managed to maintain its economy.

From the first wave, the American stimulus plan was massive, amounting to 15% of GDP.

Checks were sent to households and a very large increase in benefits was allocated to the unemployed.

Nicolas Barré takes stock of a current economic issue.

The Covid epidemic is hitting the United States hard.

Yet the world's largest economy is one of the most shocking.

Contrary to the image we may have, the American recovery plan, from the first wave of the epidemic in the spring, was much more massive and rapid than in Europe.

Support measures reached 15% of GDP, an all-time high in peacetime.

In Europe, only Germany did roughly the same with 14%.

In France and Spain, it is rather around 8-8.5%.

In Italy, around 5%.

The United States therefore struck harder, faster with direct checks sent to households and a very sharp increase in benefits to the unemployed.

As a result, this huge plan to support the economy, in April and this summer, reached an amount greater than the loss of GDP due to Covid!

Suddenly, the recession was less severe than elsewhere this year.

American growth will only have declined by 3.5% this year, against -9% for us.

It should rebound 4.2% next year.

The eurozone will pick up too, perhaps even at a slightly faster pace of around 4.5%, but as we are starting from lower, our economies will take longer to regain their pre-level levels. Covid, that is to say the level of production at the end of 2019. The United States should return to this low water level in the middle of next year when we will have to wait instead for the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023 in Europe.

And who suffers the difference?

Job seekers.

The unemployment rate in the United States fell to 6.7% last month, and is expected to decline further to 5% next year.

On the employment front, the improvement will be much slower in Europe.

The good news behind these figures, however, is that the economic shock of Covid can soon be overcome.

A very interesting study just published by Mathilde Lemoine, chief economist at Edmond de Rothschild, clearly shows that this shock has nothing to do with the 2008 crisis from which we took years to recover.

2008 cost eurozone economies five and a half years of growth.

Five and a half years to get them back to their pre-crisis level.

There, it is estimated that it will therefore take a little more than two years to erase the effects of the Covid.

And in the case of the United States, the shock will have been overcome after a year.

Because as soon as the containment measures and border restrictions are lifted, the economy starts up again.

It is time for 2021 to quickly make us forget 2020.