The first jobs report after the COVID-19 lockdowns hit the U.S. in spring 2020 revealed an epic disaster – 20 million jobs lost in a month.

Experts warned of unemployment numbers resembling the Great Depression. But within three years, the labor markets had returned essentially to where they were pre-pandemic.

“Notwithstanding the public health consequences of COVID, when one looks at the economy, it doesn't appear to have really damaged it,” said Dhiren Patki, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Season 4 of the Boston Fed’s podcast, Six Hundred Atlantic, examines how this is possible.

The season is called “From Collapse to Recovery: Labor Markets During and After the Pandemic.” It’s based on the Bank’s 66th Economic Conference, which is organized by its Research

Department. Season 4 explores pandemic-era trends that appear enduring, like the rise of remote work and a unexplained surge in entrepreneurship. It also examines highly hyped trends that have already faded or were never real in the first place. For example:

• There was no Great Resignation, in which workers everywhere abandoned the rat race to lead simpler lives.
• There was no mass and permanent exit of women from the workforce
• There are few, if any, “missing jobs.”

But the broad focus of the four episodes will be on the remarkably fast rebound of the labor markets from one of the biggest blows in their history.

Check out Season 4 of Six Hundred Atlantic.