The COVID 19 pandemic has led to a new global recession and is still causing a lot of issues because of the delays in the employment of people. This scenario has severe consequences for many countries’ labor markets in the world. This problem’s complexity and importance requires an integrated method of subjective and objective evaluation rather than intuitive decisions. This research aims to investigate sustainable indexes for assessing the unemployment problem by using a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model (MCDM). Grey theory and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (GDEMATEL) are deployed to transform the experts’ opinions into quantitative data. The analysis based on 20 crucial criteria is employed to determine the weights of sustainability of unemployment problems. The results revealed that the top ten of determinants are Economic growth, Industrialization, Foreign direct investment, Real GDP per capita, Education level, Trade Openness, Capacity Utilization Rate, Urbanization, Employability skills, Education system expansion, which have the most significant effects on the unemployment rate under COVID 19 impacts. Furthermore, GDEMATEL could effectively assess the sustainable indicators for unemployment problems in “deep and wide” aspects. The study proposes the Grey MCDM model, contributes to the literature, provides future research directions, and helps policymakers and researchers achieve the best solutions to the unemployment problems under “economic shocks.”