The Coronavirus and the U.S. Job Market

One year ago, the nation had a historic rise in jobs and a 50-year low unemployment rate. None could have expected the pandemic, and American employees are being devastatingly burdened. The 2020 outbreak of coronavirus drastically altered the landscape of jobs. Because of both a rapid drop in profits and confusion about the future, several excellent businesses were forced to lay down workers. The entertainment, retail and travel industries have been hit hardest.

Some unexpected economic sections were also critically injured. At the same time. Many health care providers, for example, have seen a significant reduction in jobs from dental offices up to surgical centres, since many have closed doors for non-emergency patients, at least temporarily.

During COVID-19, Major Job Market Trends

Some industries have been rising rapidly in the meantime. Interest rates have dropped and the mortgage companies seek to refinance their loans as a result of a large jump in business. Home sales, both new homes and holiday homes, were rising as people searched for convenient spaces for their newly developed routines for work from home. Food supply and supermarkets boomed. Also significantly boosted were the cloud computing providers, cyber-security firms, and digital payment companies such as Square and PayPal.

The acceleration of long-term trends has become one of the most significant changes in companies and associated jobs so as to allow several years of business growth to take place within several months. The most striking development was an e-commerce boom of almost all kinds. At the time, the facilities of various other types, from remote telemedicine to remote online training, were nevertheless accelerated.

At Plunkett Research we conclude that the eating behaviours of this global pandemic will at least change at the mid-term and in several ways continuously. The e-commerce trend leads to more jobs in website management, logistics, warehousing and distribution services (but fewer jobs in retail stores). The supply of food and food on demand will continue to be high. Companies that offer online education services are also continuing to expand.

The coronavirus caused travel to be seriously affected and subsequently, systemic changes and a long-term decrease in operations would occur in hotels, cruises and airlines. Conference facilities and sports stadiums will also experience a long-term decline, as buyers are less interested in being in the crowds.

COVID-19 Recession: Unemployment Trends 

In every economy, industry and major demographic group the COVID-19 pandemic affected unemployment. At the start of the recession, unemployment rates in the sectors offering personal services have risen disproportionately. In these sectors, some ethnic categories are exaggerated and lead to higher salaries for these employees.

➔ Unemployment Rates by State 

Figure 3 shows the monthly unemployment rate at the state level between January and November 2020, showing whether the unemployment rate grew or fell between October and November. As of the cover date of this article, the data for December 2020 have not been published. The figure indicates, however, that no state was early in the pandemic resistant to economic harm. The unemployment rate for each state and Columbia district has exceeded levels in the Great Recession since the current recession began. There were a number of factors which led to the variation in economic harm, such as the proportion of employment in sectors that provide non-essential services for individual customers, individual fears of the COVID-19 contract that lead to personal consumption declines and the implementation of home orders and closing policies in the industry.

In most nations, the unemployment rate peaked and has since fallen in April 2020. In November, New Jersey (10.2%), Hawaii (10.5%), Neva (10.1%), New York (8.4%) and Louisiana were five of the most highly unemployed nations (8.3 %). Nebraska (3.1%), Vermont (3.1%), Southern Dakota (3.5%), Iowa (3.6%) and New Hampshire were among the lowest unemployment rates in November (3.8 %).

● Unemployment Rates for Full-and Part-Time Workers 

Part-time workers, as seen in Figure 5, were more unemployed than full-time workers (24.5% in April 2020). (12.9 %in April). This gap is over as the crisis continues, with a part-time worker unemployment rate of 7.0% in December 2020 almost equal to the full-time worker unemployment rate (6.7 %). There are some explanations about why the apparent recovery of part-time employees after April does not reflect their economic conditions. Firstly, the difference between full- and part-time employees may be decreased when part-time employees exit the workforce. Obviously, while participation rates have dropped since March, it is unclear. In addition, for economic reasons, employees who would usually work full-time will work part-time. The unemployment rate among part-time workers could be reduced by this. BLS has found that labor underuse initiatives, including part-time jobs for economic reasons, remained high during the current recession.

Change in remote work trends due to COVID-19 in the United States in 2020

Nowadays there is a saying: the future of work is now overrun by the pandemic which suddenly turned millions of people into virtual employees. But the coronavirus has speeded up a big shift to freedom, which breaks the bonds between businesses and workers.

According to a recent report from Upwork, two million Americans have begun freelancing in the last 12 months. And the proportion of people doing freelance work has been raised to 36 %. Many employees preferred independent or contract employment in the thriving labor market before the pandemic because they chose the flexibility and variety it offered.

But now there is evidence that, out of necessity, not by choice, many workers are turning to freelance. Millions of permanent, full-time workers were thrown out by employers. Freelancing is also a means of survival because of all its insecurity such as no advantages and volatile profits.

References 

● Fas.org

● Npr.org

● Marketresearch.com

● Forbes.com

● CNN.com