We can’t recover from a coronavirus recession without helping young workers

The recent economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is unmatched by anything in recent memory. Social distancing has resulted in massive layoffs and furloughs in retail, hospitality, and entertainment, and millions of the affected workers—restaurant servers, cooks, housekeepers, retail clerks, and many others—were already at the bottom of the wage spectrum.

The economic catastrophe of the previous decade, the Great Recession, hit young adults and those with lower levels of education especially hard. As we approach another nationwide recession, we are about to see history repeat itself.

In...