Analysis by Maria Wehbe, Featured Writer and Sarah Helmy, Visiting Contributor

April 17th, 2021

This pandemic has left us confused, lost, and absolutely unsure of what to expect next. Starting with the economic, educational, and public sectors, all of which have been hit by the pandemic, there is one sector that has been especially damaged, and that is the job market. The fact that future expectancies and planning have been made near impossible due to the unpredictable course of the pandemic has engulfed people in a spiral of uncertainty and insecurity about what the future holds. Students have been left torn between decisions, such as directly applying for online masters after graduation or waiting until the pandemic is over. They want to get the real deal and not pay a full tuition to study voice-over PowerPoints and online lectures. On the other hand, others have been left rotting away at home with their freshly earned diplomas, unable to find jobs in an economy that has been left crumbling to its feet.

To put it in another way, the reason why joining the labor market in a post-pandemic world is more worrisome than other sectors is because the skills required for these jobs are not ones that we possess nor ones that we are currently acquiring. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum back in 2016, “65% of children entering primary school today will be employed in jobs that do not yet exist,” and this was five years ago, in a pre-pandemic world. Now, however, the numbers are much more concerning , whereby it is expected that 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030 do not even exist yet. 

A complete shift in the job market post-pandemic: What Does This Mean?

The pandemic has led to a complete shift to an online setting, which has elevated the importance of the physical dimension of work. Yet, at the same time, this pandemic has made us realize how emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) might, one day, dominate the world and reshape the way we live and work in 2030. Where does this leave the people whose jobs do not heavily rely on technology? It is certain that the physical dimension of work is very important and this pandemic has led to so many people not being able to properly do their jobs, yet with these emerging technologies, it seems that numerous jobs will no longer be present in the foreseeable future. 

Furthermore, increasing reliance on technology will result in the ever-increasing replacement of human labor by machines, further contributing to job scarcity. This has led to what is known as Automation Anxiety, which is the fear that machines and technological advancements will replace the need for human labor, possibly causing millions of people to lose their jobs. This is a very valid concern due to the increasing trends towards technological replacements that we have been witnessing this past decade, which has already led to the massive-killing of manual-based labor. A wide array of jobs such as that of office clerks, cashiers, customer service representatives and accounting workers are susceptible to automation. In fact, McKinsey has predicted that half of current jobs across the economy today could be automated by 2055, which implies that it is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’ that a big chunk of human employment will be replaced by the introduction of robots in the workplace. What’s more, COVID-19 anxiety is only exacerbating and worsening automation anxiety as the pandemic has accelerated automation by forcing onto us widespread digitalization that would have otherwise taken years. For instance, the 2008 US recession revealed that routine jobs that are vulnerable to automation vanished and have not made a return since.

To add onto that, it has been revealed that some jobs will likely be in higher demand once this pandemic is over. In particular, three practical fields are expected to be highly called for:   business and data analytics, blockchain and cybersecurity and social work. Without a doubt, these fields are very important and essential today, yet this makes us wonder: Where does this leave other individuals, ones that have decided not to pursue careers within these lines of work? 

Indeed, it is most likely that jobs with the highest physical proximity are likely to be disrupted, more so than jobs that require less direct presence. These changes have not only left workers at a crossroad, but have also made university students, who are pursuing degrees with an ambiguous future, doubt their choices, thus pushing them to consider different degrees.   

About 82% of leaders today believe that humans and machines will be working simultaneously, as integrated teams within their organizations in the upcoming five years, while 26% say that this has already been done. University students are also concerned that their courses are not providing them with the adequate and necessary skills that they will need once they enter the labor force, post-pandemic. In fact, this is obvious when looking at how many students have been taking extra online courses, through platforms such as Coursera. In fact, since mid-March of 2020, over 21 million learners have joined Coursera, a 353% increase compared to the previous year. In addition, 87% of learners are reporting many career benefits.

This platform has indeed been very successful amidst the COVID outbreak, as so many individuals have been adding their certifications on their LinkedIn Profiles, within their CVs, and are heavily relying on them as a means of securing a job. People seem to be very proud of these sorts of accomplishments, and this shows that people are depending more on these certificates as a way of securing employment, rather than on their degrees, which they are losing faith in by the minute. The skills that are needed in a post-pandemic world are ones that we do not possess, and this has led to much frustration within working individuals, who are no longer confident in how qualified they are. 

The Psychological Ramifications of these changes:  

Moreover, the digitalization that has been forced onto us due to the on and off lockdown restrictions has swapped our face-to-face daily interactions with on-screen video conferences, online food delivery services, and even Zoom dates and birthdays. No matter how much we get used to this new way of life, if one thing is certain, it is that these mediated platforms, even though incredibly helpful, will never be able to substitute the power and role of face-to-face communication. The lack of real-life social interaction is slowly, but surely causing some people to lose some very important communication skills and social cues — both of which are key hiring criteria when looking for a job. In addition, a lot of people’s jobs require them to forge relationships with customers (for example; salespersons, lawyers, consultants), and as the pandemic drags on, these people are scared that the world we once knew will no longer be a possible reality. 

Furthermore, as Tim Levine, Ph.D., chair and professor at the University of Alabama, explains, social isolation can affect our communication on a much deeper level that one might think: “One impact is that, the less contact we have with other people, the more we become suspicious of other people. This can make others more defensive and lead to a vicious spiral where isolation leads to suspicion, which begets defensiveness, which reinforces the suspicion and leads to further isolation as a self-fulfilling prophecy.” In other words, this lack of face-to-face interaction will likely leave its imprints on the way we communicate and understand others for a substantial amount of time after the pandemic is over. What’s more, preventative tasks such as mask wearing and social distancing have affected our natural instincts for personal connection, instilling doubts and worry in us as most of us have yet to become accustomed to the latest social etiquette and customs when approaching others in times of a pandemic.

Besides, as a big chunk of work has been transferred to online platforms, people have been experiencing several symptoms ranging from stress, depression, headaches, zoom fatigue and decreased attentional capacities—all of which have not only affected work performance, but have also taken a significant toll on people’s emotional and mental wellbeing. For instance, stress has countlessly been demonstrated to impair both memory and judgement, which are important for employees to work efficiently. In fact, a new survey examining the toll of the pandemic on employees working from home reveals that as much as 55% of individuals experienced significant stress due to disruptions to their work routines. Additionally, 46% also experienced reduced job productivity, expressing the difficulties that come with online work. One of the problems of working from home is the weakening barrier between private and professional roles, specifically when people are having a hard time finding an appropriate work-life balance.

When your kid comes in crying while you’re in an online Zoom meeting, what do you do? Do you leave the meeting and see what’s up with your child, or do you ignore him/her until the crying ceases? This is a tricky situation a lot of parents have been facing due to their multiple overlapping roles and inadequate work environments at home, which have made it increasingly difficult to deal simultaneously with both child care responsibilities and work-from-home obligations.

With millions of people out of jobs as a result of the pandemic, unemployment levels have surged and will continue rising well into 2021. The job market crash has amplified feelings of anxiety and stress around job scarcity, as demonstrated by the aforementioned survey, with as much as 56% of people reporting such feelings. Furthermore, this job crisis has disproportionately affected different groups of people with women, young workers, and those with lower incomes, mostly hit. This has further exacerbated these groups’ psychological distress due to the lack of stability and the financial troubles that they have been left in.

In short, this pandemic has led to the disappearance of many jobs due to the new technological advancements that have taken the world by storm. Who knew about Coursera, Zoom, WebEx before the pandemic hit? This not only proves that the pandemic has changed the way that we view the job market, but it has also left countless individuals fearing unemployment due to the rise of these new and improved jobs, ones that they are not qualified for.

The problems we are facing will likely drag on after this pandemic is over because what we have been experiencing are not merely temporary tweaks and ways to adapt to this new world of isolation, but rather a fourth Industrial revolution: the revolution of the workforce.