the effect of covid 19 on unemployment essay brainly

Unemployment insurance benefits buffered workers from negative effects of joblessness during COVID-19

Shift Project research shows displaced workers experienced a decline in well-being, but unemployment insurance provided a measure of relief.

When service sector employment fell by 15% during the early days of the pandemic, many hourly service workers faced increasing economic precarity and negative consequences for their health and well-being. The 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act consequently expanded unemployment insurance (UI) programs, providing temporary financial assistance to unemployed workers. New research published in Social Science Research from scholars at the Shift Project —a joint research project between the Harvard Kennedy School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy and the University of California, San Francisco—found that access to UI mitigated some of the worst effects for these workers. 

Service sector workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced economic insecurity and saw their health and well-being suffer—from declining sleep quality and happiness to greater psychological distress. However, these negative effects of job loss on well-being were offset by the historically generous governmental response.  

“In the first year of the pandemic, UI partially buffered workers from the negative effects of job loss on sleep quality, happiness, psychological distress, and self-rated health,” write the articles’ authors, Daniel Schneider , the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at HKS; Kristen Harknett, professor of sociology at the University of California, San Francisco; and Annette Gailliot, a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. “Further, in the earliest months of the pandemic, when the economic effects of job loss were more fully buffered for workers displaced from low-wage work, so too were the health effects of job loss.”  

“The COVID-19 pandemic affected Americans’ health not only via disease but also through the harms of job loss, which we show led to significant harms to mental health.”

The Shift Project documents the economic security, schedules, and health and well-being of hourly workers across the country. For this article, the researchers drew on survey data from 15,219 respondents who were employed in the service sector in 2020. Collectively, these respondents range from across retail, pharmacy, grocery, hardware, electronics, fast food, casual dining, delivery, and hotel services—including some from 136 of the largest service sector firms in the United States.

The article’s key findings include:

Service sector workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced a variety of negative effects related to health and well-being: In the Shift Project survey data, they reported significantly worse sleep, lower happiness, and more psychological distress when compared with workers who remained employed. 

UI benefits helped to moderate the negative economic effects of job loss for displaced workers who had access to such benefits. These workers experienced lower rates of hunger, medical, and housing hardship than workers who did not receive UI and reported being no worse off than those who remained employed.

Unemployment insurance offered not just economic relief but also safeguarded against deteriorating physical and mental health: Displaced workers who received unemployment insurance that fully replaced their lost wages sustained steady levels of sleep quality and experienced reduced unhappiness and psychological distress when compared with their counterparts who were unable to access unemployment insurance.

The expansion of UI through the CARES Act was time-limited, however, and as the benefits have been scaled back, workers again face the prospect of greater hardship. “The UI expansions of early 2020 have not been sustained, and these benefits are no longer as generous or accessible as they were in the early pandemic period,” the authors write. “Our research shows that this retrenchment of the UI safety net poses a real threat to the well-being of current and future displaced workers.” 

– Photograph by Nam Y. Huh.

More from HKS

Are “bad jobs” dead ends or steppingstones to better things new research identifies some pathways to better job quality, for california’s fast-food workers, a major minimum wage increase brings an immediate boon, hospital closures mean more than just the loss of access to medical care.

Get smart & reliable public policy insights right in your inbox. 

How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the U.S. Labor Market?

Social distancing and the partial economic shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have had a profound impact on the U.S. economy, including on people’s jobs and livelihoods.

The overall immediate effects on the labor market have been easy to see: The unemployment rate shot up in the early months of the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S., and payroll employment numbers show that more than 20 million jobs were lost in April—a record amount for one month. (Employment has increased every month since then, and unemployment declined to 7.9% in September after a 14.7% April peak.)

But these aggregate numbers don’t tell the whole story. There are many ways to dissect data to get a more complete sense of how the pandemic has affected the U.S. labor market, including which workers have felt the most impact.

This post provides a roundup of some recent St. Louis Fed analyses that examined different aspects of unemployment and employment during the pandemic. Some takeaways:

• When other measures of unemployment started declining, the share of those unemployed for at least 15 weeks continued to rise.
• The youngest workers saw the biggest decline in employment.
• The leisure and hospitality sector lost the most jobs in the early months of the pandemic.
• The lowest-earning occupations were hit the hardest by the pandemic.

What are various measures of unemployment showing us?

An Oct. 5 FRED Blog post discussed how six measures of labor underutilization from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) changed with the pandemic.

Among the measures included in the above graph from the blog post are the official unemployment rate; a measure of those unemployed 15 weeks or longer; and measures that take into account discouraged workers and others who are marginally attached to the labor force, and those who want full-time work but can only get part-time work.

As noted in the post and seen in the graph, all of the measures increased dramatically, but they didn’t all move in parallel—in other words, the distance between the lines didn’t stay constant.

“The lines fanned out, showing that it wasn’t one particular type of unemployment that was responsible for the overall surge,” said the post, which was suggested by Christian Zimmermann , assistant vice president of research information services.

Of particular note, the share of workers unemployed for at least 15 weeks was still increasing in August while the other unemployment measures were decreasing, the post pointed out. These workers made up 5.1% of the labor force in August, although the share ticked down to 4.6% in September.

(For more information, check out this June 2018 Open Vault blog post on the different measures of unemployment and this August 2020 post on labor force participation.)

What do we learn from looking at employment levels by age group?

An Oct. 8 FRED Blog post , also suggested by Zimmermann, breaks down employment levels by age group using data from the BLS.

As shown in the graph above, the youngest groups were hit the hardest during the COVID-19 related recession. The blog post noted that, from February to April:

• 35% of workers 16-19 years old lost their jobs.
• 30% of those 20-24 years old lost their jobs.
• Job losses for the other age groups ranged from 11% to 16%.

The declines in employment for the older age groups were still sizeable, but much smaller than those of the two youngest groups, the post noted.

“Are the young taking one for the team just for this recession?” the post asked. “Or have they always been first to be let go?”

The youngest group saw the largest decline in employment in each of the three previous recessions, as discussed in the post. In some previous cases, those 55 years and older and/or those 45 to 54 years old even saw employment gains. (See graphs for the 2007-09 recession , the 2001 recession and the 1990-91 recession .)

“All in all, it appears ‘normal’ that the 16- to 19-year-old age group is hit hardest by recessions and that the oldest workers are largely unaffected, at least in terms of employment,” the post said. “The current recession is a little different in that the older groups have also been affected, just not as much as the younger groups.”

Which industries have been most affected?

In a Regional Economist article published in August, Senior Economist Maximiliano Dvorkin noted that safety measures have impacted businesses that involve direct contact with customers or clients in particular. He examined which industries were the most affected by labor market disruptions during the early months of the pandemic. (He also analyzed which occupations were most affected, but this post focuses on industries.)

Dvorkin looked at several goods-producing industries and service-providing industries. The industries Dvorkin looked at are mining and logging; construction; durable goods manufacturing; nondurable goods manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; education and health services; leisure and hospitality; other services; and government. He found that the leisure and hospitality services sector saw the largest decline from February to April, with nearly half of these jobs being lost. This was followed by the “other services” sector—which includes businesses such as repair and maintenance and beauty shops—where about one in five jobs was lost.

In contrast, the financial activities sector and the government sector saw relatively small declines in employment over this period, he found.

February to April Payroll Employment Declines by Industry

Leisure and Hospitality: -48.3%

Other Services: -22.0%

Financial Activities: -3.0%

Government: -4.4%

SOURCES: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Maximiliano Dvorkin’s calculations. Adapted from Table 1 in “ Which Jobs Have Been Hit Hardest by COVID-19? ,” a Regional Economist article by Dvorkin published Aug. 17, 2020.

Which wage earners have been hit the hardest?

In an Economic Synopses essay published in July , Economist Serdar Birinci and Research Associate Aaron Amburgey looked at how the pandemic has impacted various occupations across the earnings distribution.

Overall, they found that workers in occupations with lower average earnings were disproportionally displaced by the pandemic, whereas workers in occupations with higher average earnings were impacted to a lesser extent.

For their analysis, Birinci and Amburgey broke occupations into five equal groups (quintiles) based on the average earnings of someone in that particular line of work. The table below, which is recreated from their essay, shows some examples that are included in each group.

The authors noted that the majority of the jobs that were furloughed or lost between January and April were in the lower-earnings occupations. In particular, they found that occupations in the lowest and second-lowest earnings groups accounted for 34% and 25%, respectively, of the increase in unemployment over that period.

They also found that the unemployment rates for the lower-earnings groups increased by much more than for the higher-earnings groups. For example, workers in occupations in the lowest-earnings group saw their unemployment rate increase by 20.4 percentage points from January to April. In comparison, workers in occupations in the highest-earnings group experienced only a 3.2 percentage point increase in their unemployment rate over that period.

“These results provide further evidence that the COVID-19 crisis has had an unbalanced effect on different earnings groups in the labor market,” they wrote.

1 The industries Dvorkin looked at are mining and logging; construction; durable goods manufacturing; nondurable goods manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; education and health services; leisure and hospitality; other services; and government.

Kristie Engemann is a senior coordinator with the St. Louis Fed’s communications team.

Related Topics

This blog explains everyday economics and the Fed, while also spotlighting St. Louis Fed people and programs. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the St. Louis Fed or Federal Reserve System.

Media questions

All other blog-related questions

• Engineering and Architecture
• Management and Business Administration
• Medicine and Allied Sciences
• Animation and Design
• Media, Mass Communication and Journalism
• Finance & Accounts
• Computer Application and IT
• Hospitality and Tourism
• Competition
• Study Abroad
• Arts, Commerce & Sciences
• Online Courses and Certifications

Covid 19 Essay in English

Essay on Covid -19: In a very short amount of time, coronavirus has spread globally. It has had an enormous impact on people's lives, economy, and societies all around the world, affecting every country. Governments have had to take severe measures to try and contain the pandemic. The virus has altered our way of life in many ways, including its effects on our health and our economy. Here are a few sample essays on ‘CoronaVirus’.

10 Lines on Covid 19

100 words essay on covid 19, 200 words essay on covid 19, 500 words essay on covid 19.

• COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
• It is a novel coronavirus that spreads through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.
• The common symptoms of COVID 19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and loss of taste or smell.
• Various vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca were developed to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
• It caused millions of deaths worldwide and also led to economic disruptions. It affected many industries and global supply chains.
• Due to coronavirus, the government implemented lockdowns and restricted travelling.
• Many affected citizens were quarantined to prevent the virus from spreading.
• Schools and colleges were closed. However, online classes were started but due to bad network it affected many students.
• Hospitals were flooded with patients suffering from virus.
• The virus led to a general feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, as people became more aware and fearful of contracting the disease.

COVID-19 or Corona Virus is a novel coronavirus that was first identified in 2019. It is similar to other coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, but it is more contagious and has caused more severe respiratory illness in people who have been infected. The novel coronavirus became a global pandemic in a very short period of time. It has affected lives, economies and societies across the world, leaving no country untouched. The virus has caused governments to take drastic measures to try and contain it. From health implications to economic and social ramifications, COVID-19 impacted every part of our lives. It has been more than 2 years since the pandemic hit and the world is still recovering from its effects.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the world has been impacted in a number of ways. For one, the global economy has taken a hit as businesses have been forced to close their doors. This has led to widespread job losses and an increase in poverty levels around the world. Additionally, countries have had to impose strict travel restrictions in an attempt to contain the virus, which has resulted in a decrease in tourism and international trade. Furthermore, the pandemic has put immense pressure on healthcare systems globally, as hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients suffering from the virus. Lastly, the outbreak has led to a general feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, as people are fearful of contracting the disease.

My Experience of COVID-19

I still remember how abruptly colleges and schools shut down in March 2020. I was a college student at that time and I was under the impression that everything would go back to normal in a few weeks. I could not have been more wrong. The situation only got worse every week and the government had to impose a lockdown. There were so many restrictions in place. For example, we had to wear face masks whenever we left the house, and we could only go out for essential errands. Restaurants and shops were only allowed to operate at take-out capacity, and many businesses were shut down.

In the current scenario, coronavirus is dominating all aspects of our lives. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc upon people’s lives, altering the way we live and work in a very short amount of time. It has revolutionised how we think about health care, education, and even social interaction. This virus has had long-term implications on our society, including its impact on mental health, economic stability, and global politics. But we as individuals can help to mitigate these effects by taking personal responsibility to protect themselves and those around them from infection.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Education

The outbreak of coronavirus has had a significant impact on education systems around the world. In China, where the virus originated, all schools and universities were closed for several weeks in an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Many other countries have followed suit, either closing schools altogether or suspending classes for a period of time.

This has resulted in a major disruption to the education of millions of students. Some have been able to continue their studies online, but many have not had access to the internet or have not been able to afford the costs associated with it. This has led to a widening of the digital divide between those who can afford to continue their education online and those who cannot.

The closure of schools has also had a negative impact on the mental health of many students. With no face-to-face contact with friends and teachers, some students have felt isolated and anxious. This has been compounded by the worry and uncertainty surrounding the virus itself.

The situation with coronavirus has improved and schools have been reopened but students are still catching up with the gap of 2 years that the pandemic created. In the meantime, governments and educational institutions are working together to find ways to support students and ensure that they are able to continue their education despite these difficult circumstances.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Economy

The outbreak of the coronavirus has had a significant impact on the global economy. The virus, which originated in China, has spread to over two hundred countries, resulting in widespread panic and a decrease in global trade. As a result of the outbreak, many businesses have been forced to close their doors, leading to a rise in unemployment. In addition, the stock market has taken a severe hit.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Health

The effects that coronavirus has on one's health are still being studied and researched as the virus continues to spread throughout the world. However, some of the potential effects on health that have been observed thus far include respiratory problems, fever, and coughing. In severe cases, pneumonia, kidney failure, and death can occur. It is important for people who think they may have been exposed to the virus to seek medical attention immediately so that they can be treated properly and avoid any serious complications. There is no specific cure or treatment for coronavirus at this time, but there are ways to help ease symptoms and prevent the virus from spreading.

• 2-Minute Speech on COVID-19 for Students
• Speech on Online Education
• 2-Minute Speech on Environment

Applications for Admissions are open.

Jee main important physics formulas.

As per latest 2024 syllabus. Physics formulas, equations, & laws of class 11 & 12th chapters

JEE Main Important Chemistry formulas

As per latest 2024 syllabus. Chemistry formulas, equations, & laws of class 11 & 12th chapters

TOEFL ® Registrations 2024

Accepted by more than 11,000 universities in over 150 countries worldwide

Pearson | PTE

Register now for PTE & Unlock 20% OFF : Use promo code: 'C360SPL20'. Valid till 31st DEC'24! Trusted by 3,500+ universities globally

JEE Main high scoring chapters and topics

As per latest 2024 syllabus. Study 40% syllabus and score upto 100% marks in JEE

JEE Main Important Mathematics Formulas

As per latest 2024 syllabus. Maths formulas, equations, & theorems of class 11 & 12th chapters

Download Careers360 App

All this at the convenience of your phone.

Regular Exam Updates

Best College Recommendations

College & Rank predictors

Detailed Books and Sample Papers

Question and Answers

Scan and download the app

Essay on What Are the Effects of the COVID 19 Pandemic on Labor Force?

COVID 19 pandemic has had a huge impact in our society today, It has led to the lockdown of many states leading to sates restricting movement within the country or out of the country. The COVID 19 pandemic has led to the meltdown of our economy leading to many businesses relying on the human resource management to come up with resilient strategies in hopes of salvaging their business. This Pandemic has led to a lot of problems in our Human resource sector. Hence the question how has it affected the labor force in our businesses today? We will see how the pandemic has affected the recruitment of employees, the payrates and the development of a business.

COVID 19 led to the death of millions of citizens in various states. This impacted the human resource as it had to hire a new lot of employees. More resources had to be used to train many more human resource personnel to help in staffing of healthcare companies (Martocchio, 2019). Some companies lost up to 50% of their workers and with people dealing with the stigmatization from the disease led to most of them quitting. The human resource department faced a huge challenge in trying to find qualified personnel. For example, in Canada they had to get employees from other states to fully staff their companies and provide services effectively. Some of the companies mainly in the healthcare department had to opt employ students to stand in as qualified medical personnel. Thousands of dollars were used in trying to ensure quality services were offered.

As the healthcare department increased their work load most of the other departments i.e. the tourism sector, the entertainment sector faced a lot of challenges trying to stay afloat. It was up to the human resource department to try and ensure that most of these businesses did not collapse. The department had to come up with strategies plans and ways to help the businesses be afloat. They had to ensure this solution did not affect the services rendered  ( Mala, 2020). One of the solutions was there were layoffs in most departments. Thousands o f people lost their jobs. The Human resource department had to reduce the salaries and remove the bonuses given to the staff. This led to most of the staff including the human resource not having medical covers. This led to a lot of debts and high bills for the workers leading to reduced productivity reducing the quality of services offered by most companies. Some of the Human resource management staff had to be laid off too. This led to unemployment to most of the Human resource management staff.

With the pandemic came new COVID 19 protocols to be followed by business owners. Some of these protocols included: social distancing, the company ensuring all the staff was vaccinated, and they limited the number of employees who were to personally report to work. It was up to the Human resource department to ensure all this protocol were followed (Caligiuri et al, 2020). This led to most the employers working virtually from home. The increase in these protocols led to companies using a lot of resources hence the Human resource department was unable to create a budget that could enable them to pay their workers. These protocols have challenged the human resource personnel in trying to create budgets to enable their workers to be well compensated and provide the best of services to their clients.

Human resource is given the mandate to ensure that the company provides the best of services to its consumers. With the challenges mentioned above it is important to address them and try on ways we can resolve them (Butterick & Charlwood, 2021). The government and insurance companies should amend their policies to cater for the COVID 19 demands to businesses and unburden the human resource management in trying to come up with impossible decisions during this pandemic. With these policies in place it will help the Human resource properly manage their employees and ensure that the services are well provided instead of spending thousand of hours in trying to create resilience strategies in their businesses.

With the meltdown of the economy my curiosity is, will these companies ever pick up from the damage caused by the pandemic? As a Human resource management student what are some of the changes I can bring to the table in trying to resolve some of these problems. I personally think that companies should adopt technologies and new innovations that are emerging everyday in trying to better the performance of the companies. The Human resource can use the Artificial intelligence technology in ensuring that the staff provide quality work (Strzelec & Przytuła, 2020). In terms of compensation the Human resource team should come up with new income generating projects to ensure increase in the companies’ income and enable them to cater for the extra expenses. The human resource should also come up with healthcare plans for their staff that should cater for future pandemics.

According to a research done in Jordan the Human resource management has taken the workplace online proving online teaching programs to help in the betterment of company production. This online transition has made it difficult for the human resource to monitor work proficiency by workers. The human resource department has been forced to hire personnel online without interacting with them physically (Strzelec & Przytuła, 2020). This has been hard as they cannot determine the work proficiency. Most of the researches agree that this pandemic has made it difficult for the human resource to do their jobs.

In conclusion, there is evidence that the pandemic has affected the Human resource Management negatively. It has made their work more difficult. The Human resource management are unable to properly staff their organizations, Check the proficiency of their workers and most importantly there are not able to properly manage their finances and ensure proper compensation to their workers. The human resource plays an important role in ensuring the continuity of our business. Programs are coming up everyday and are educating our human resource personnel on better ways in making the work place more conducive for their workers, they are also providing ways in which the HRM can transition easily to the online market by adapting the new technologies that are emerging daily.

References.

Martocchio, J. J. (2019). Human resource management. Urbana-Champaign.

Mala, W. A. (2020). How COVID-19 Changes the HRM Practices (Adapting One HR Strategy May Not Fit to All).  Available at SSRN 3736719 .

Caligiuri, P., De Cieri, H., Minbaeva, D., Verbeke, A., & Zimmermann, A. (2020). International HRM insights for navigating the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for future research and practice.

Butterick, M., & Charlwood, A. (2021). HRM and the COVID‐19 pandemic: How can we stop making a bad situation worse?.  Human Resource Management Journal .

Strzelec, G., & Przytuła, S. (2020). Re-vision of future trends in human resource management (HRM) after COVID-19.  Text design and typesetting: Marcin Szadkowski Cover design: Marcin Szadkowski Language editing: Lidia Pernak Adjustment: Dominika Więzik, Małgorzata Pająk ,  12 (4), 70-90.

Cite this page

Similar essay samples.

• Essay on Compare and Contrast These Poetic Rewritings of Psalm 23
• Essay on Review of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heal...
• Essay on Identify 3 Models of Psychopathology. Critically Examine Thei...
• Resource Based View Analysis Kraft Foods
• Critically examine the distinguishing features of Human Resource Manag...
• Qualitative research: a precursor to science. Discuss.

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Publications
• Account settings
• Advanced Search
• Journal List

Editor in Chief's Introduction to Essays on the Impact of COVID-19 on Work and Workers

Nadya a fouad.

• Author information
• Article notes
• Copyright and License information

Issue date 2020 Jun.

Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic, indicating significant global spread of an infectious disease ( World Health Organization, 2020 ). At that point, there were 118,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in 110 countries. China had been the first country with a widespread outbreak in January, and South Korea, Iran and Italy following in February with their own outbreaks. Soon, the virus was in all continents and over 177 countries, and as of this writing, the United States has the highest number of confirmed cases and, sadly, the most deaths. The virus was extremely contagious and led to death in the most vulnerable, particularly those older than 60 and those with underlying conditions. The most critical cases led to an overwhelming number being admitted into the intensive care units of hospitals, leading to a concern that the virus would overwhelm local health care systems. Today, in early May 2020, there have been nearly 250,000 deaths worldwide, with over 3,500,000 confirmed cases ( Hopkins, 2020 ). The human toll is staggering, and experts are predicting a second wave in summer or fall.

As the deaths rose from the virus that had no known treatment or vaccine countries shut their borders, banned travel to other countries and began to issue orders for their citizens to stay at home, with no gatherings of more than 10 individuals. Schools and universities closed their physical locations and moved education online. Sporting events were canceled, airlines cut flights, tourism evaporated, restaurants, movie theaters and bars closed, theater productions canceled, manufacturing facilities, services, and retail stores closed. In some businesses and industries, employees have been able to work remotely from home, but in others, workers have been laid off, furloughed, or had their hours cut. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that there was a 4.5% reduction in hours in the first quarter of 2020, and 10.5% reduction is expected in the second quarter ( ILO, 2020a ). The latter is equivalent to 305 million jobs ( ILO, 2020a ).

Globally, over 430 million enterprises are at risk of disruption, with about half of those in the wholesale and retail trades ( ILO, 2020a ). Much focus in the press has been on the impact in Europe and North America, but the effect on developing countries is even more critical. An example of the latter is the Bangladeshi ready-made-garment sector ( Leitheiser et al., 2020 ), a global industry that depends on a supply chain of raw material from a few countries and produces those garments for retail stores throughout North America and Europe. But, in January 2020, raw material from China was delayed by the shutdown in China, creating delays and work stoppages in Bangladesh. By the time Bangladeshi factories had the material to make garments, in March, retailers in Europe and North American began to cancel orders or put them on hold, canceling or delaying payment. Factories shut down and workers were laid off without pay. Nearly a million people lost their jobs. Overall, since February 2020, the factories in Bangladesh have lost nearly 3 billion dollars in revenue. And, the retail stores that would have sold the garments have also closed. This demonstrates the ripple effect of the disruption of one industry that affects multiple countries and sets of workers, because consider that, in turn, there will be less raw material needed from China, and fewer workers needed there. One need only multiply this example by hundreds to consider the global impact of COVID-19 across the world of work.

The ILO (2020b) notes that it is difficult to collect employment statistics from different countries, so a total global unemployment rate is unavailable at this time. However, they predict significant increase in unemployment, and the number of individuals filing for unemployment benefits in the United States may be an indicator of the magnitude of those unemployed. In the United States, over 30 million filed for unemployment between March 11 and April 30 ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020 ), effectively this is an unemployment rate of 18%. By contrast, in February 2020, the US unemployment rate was 3.5% ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020 ).

Clearly, COVID-19 has had an enormous disruption on work and workers, most critically for those who have lost their employment. But, even for those continuing to work, there have been disruptions in where people work, with whom they work, what they do, and how much they earn. And, as of this writing, it is also a time of great uncertainty, as countries are slowly trying to ease restrictions to allow people to go back to work--- in a “new normal”, without the ability to predict if they can prevent further infectious “spikes”. The anxieties about not knowing what is coming, when it will end, or what work will entail led us to develop this set of essays about future research on COVID-19 and its impact on work and workers.

These essays began with an idea by Associate Editor Jos Akkermans, who noted to me that the global pandemic was creating a set of career shocks for workers. He suggested writing an essay for the Journal . The Journal of Vocational Behavior has not traditionally published essays, but these are such unusual times, and COVID-19 is so relevant to our collective research on work that I thought it was a good idea. I issued an invitation to the Associate Editors to submit a brief (3000 word) essay on the implications of COVID-19 on work and/or workers with an emphasis on research in the area. At the same time, a group of international scholars was coming together to consider the effects of COVID-19 on unemployment in several countries, and I invited that group to contribute an essay, as well ( Blustein et al., 2020 ).

The following are a set of nine thoughtful set of papers on how the COVID-19 could (and perhaps will) affect vocational behavior; they all provide suggestions for future research. Akkermans, Richardson, and Kraimer (2020) explore how the pandemic may be a career shock for many, but also how that may not necessarily be a negative experience. Blustein et al. (2020) focus on global unemployment, also acknowledging the privileged status they have as professors studying these phenomena. Cho examines the effect of the pandemic on micro-boundaries (across domains) as well as across national (macro) boundaries ( Cho, 2020 ). Guan, Deng, and Zhou (2020) drawing from cultural psychology, discuss how cultural orientations shape an individual's response to COVID-19, but also how a national cultural perspective influences collective actions. Kantamneni (2020) emphasized the effects on marginalized populations in the United States, as well as the very real effects of racism for Asians and Asian-Americans in the US. Kramer and Kramer (2020) discuss the impact of the pandemic in the perceptions of various occupations, whether perceptions of “good” and “bad” jobs will change and whether working remotely will permanently change where people will want to work. Restubog, Ocampo, and Wang (2020) also focused on individual's responses to the global crisis, concentrating on emotional regulation as a challenge, with suggestions for better managing the stress surrounding the anxiety of uncertainty. Rudolph and Zacher (2020) cautioned against using a generational lens in research, advocating for a lifespan developmental approach. Spurk and Straub (2020) also review issues related to unemployment, but focus on the impact of COVID-19 specifically on “gig” or flexible work arrangements.

I am grateful for the contributions of these groups of scholars, and proud of their ability to write these. They were able to write constructive essays in a short time frame when they were, themselves, dealing with disruptions at work. Some were home-schooling children, some were worried about an absent partner or a vulnerable loved one, some were struggling with the challenges that Restubog et al. (2020) outlined. I hope the thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations in these essays will help to stimulate productive thought on the effect of COVID-19 on work and workers. And, while, I hope this research spurs to better understand the effects of such shocks on work, I really hope we do not have to cope with such a shock again.

• Akkermans J., Richardson J., Kraimer M. The Covid-19 crisis as a career shock: Implications for careers and vocational behavior. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103434. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Blustein D.L., Duffy R., Ferreira J.A., Cohen-Scali V., Cinamon R.G., Allan B.A. Unemployment in the time of COVID-19: A research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103436. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved May 6, 2020 from https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost .
• Cho E. Examining boundaries to understand the impact of COVID-19 on vocational behaviors. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103437. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Guan Y., Deng H., Zhou X. Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on career development: Insights from cultural psychology. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103438. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johns Hopkins (2020) Coronavirus Outbreak Mapped: Retrieved May 5, 2020 from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html .
• International Labor Organization ILO monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work. Third edition updated estimates and analysis. 2020. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_743146.pdf Retrieved May 5, 2020 from:
• International Labor Organization (2020b) COVID-19 impact on the collection of labour market statistics. Retrieved May 6, 2020 from: https://ilostat.ilo.org .
• Kantamneni, N. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marginalized populations in the United States: A research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119 . [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ]
• Kramer A., Kramer K.Z. The potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on occupational status, work from home, and occupational mobility. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103442. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Leitheiser, E., Hossain, S.N., Shuvro, S., Tasnim, G., Moon, J., Knudsen, J.S., & Rahman, S. (2020). Early impacts of coronavirus on Bangladesh apparel supply chains. https://www.cbs.dk/files/cbs.dk/risc_report_-_impacts_of_coronavirus_on_bangladesh_rmg_1.pdf .
• Restubog S.L.D., Ocampo A.C., Wang L. Taking control amidst the Chaos: Emotion regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103440. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rudolph C.W., Zacher H. COVID-19 and careers: On the futility of generational explanations. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103433. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Spurk D., Straub C. Flexible employment relationships and careers in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2020;119 doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103435. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• World Health Organization (2020). World Health Organization Coronavirus Update. Retrieved May 5, 2020 from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 .
• View on publisher site
• PDF (209.1 KB)
• Collections

Similar articles

Cited by other articles, links to ncbi databases.

• Download .nbib .nbib
• Format: AMA APA MLA NLM

Add to Collections