COVID-19 and digitalization: achieving the goals of UNIDO (UN) and transforming of the labor market

Abstract

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economy has faced not only the problem of maintaining sustainable development and ensuring the well-being of citizens at the same level, but also with a number of problems caused by urgent challenges related to the need to organize remote education and work. As a result, many of the goals that are and were on the agenda of many government associations, organizations and institutions, such as food security, reducing poverty in developing countries, social and gender inequality, have been ‘postponed’ for an indefinite term. Accelerated digitalization has led not only to a change in the mode of operation of many enterprises, but also has had a significant effect on the consumer preferences of consumers of products produced in different industrial sectors. Although in many countries the restrictions (lockdown) caused by a new coronavirus infection are gradually decreasing, not all citizens are ready to return to their previous activities. It is important to understand that as the economy recedes, demand recovery will be unpredictable, uneven across geographical regions, sectors, product categories and consumer segments, and often slow. And if earlier methods of forecasting statistical indicators were actively used, which were based on values for previous periods, now they are simply unrepresentative. Drones that help deliver essential goods and conduct extensive analysis of highly populated areas, robots that allow remote commissioning and repair of devices and equipment, 3-D printing, which is actively used to develop product prototypes and create new images, blockchain technology to ensure the continuity and rhythm of goods deliveries in international logistics — all these methods, previously only rarely used in everyday life are becoming more necessary day by day. Special attention should be paid to educational technologies in the era of accelerated digitalization, in many ways, because in 10–15 years employees will have professions that simply do not exist now. That is why in the educational process it is necessary to create an environment where students will not just be recipients of information, but its generators, which will allow them to better navigate the new digital reality in the future.