Skills lost due to COVID school closures will hit output for generations - OECD

FILE PHOTO: A teacher is seen through a glass panel as she holds an online class which is part of measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Al-Mahdi School in Tehran, Iran September 5, 2020. Picture taken September 5, 2020. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - Disruption to schooling stemming from the COVID-19 epidemic will cause a skill loss that could result in a 1.5% drop in global economic output for the rest of this century, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated.

For the United States, that will represent an economic loss of $15.3 trillion, the OECD said in a report published on Tuesday, with the bill rising higher still if disruption to education extends into the next academic year.