THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT AND NEW SKILLS

Miltiadis Staboulis,Irene Lazaridou

doi:10.35774/jee2020.03.409

Abstract

This paper discusses the economic features of the current Covid-19 outbreak and its relation to labour markets and new skills in demand. At the same time, it focuses on how it started to expand worldwide, while reporting the ways of transmission and their effects on daily social and professional life. It is argued that focusing on skills and human capital could offer a strong foundation for building sustainable economies, as the recent months have been a suitable period to progress and advance digital skills, thus reducing digital illiteracy, while at the same time developing certain major sectors such as online education, ecommerce, telemedicine, entertainment, digital collaboration tools, virtual reality applications, etc. The author mainly focuses on the analysis of the recent global trends in many affected sectors, examines possible unemployment issues with an emphasis on the kind of new skills and soft skills in demand that are necessary for an easier transition to the new Covid-19 way of life.

Highlights

The starting date of the pandemic appears to be November 17, 2019 where gradually at least 266 pneumonia-like cases came into medical surveillance (Ma, 2020), in Hubei province in China
The overall direct initial hit to the level of GDP is typically between 20-25% in many major advanced economies, as shown in figure 1 below, while the actual impact on annual GDP growth depends on the duration of the lockdown measures (OECD, 2020)
The ability to adopt self-isolation, to practice successful remote working and to cut expenses to basics is proving the human flexibility of survival. Empathy is another skill that we are familiar with, as the whole humanity appreciated the work of the frontline medics in many hospitals and ICUs worldwide, in addition to all essential workers that have been on duty daily at the same time as 3.5 billion people in 210 countries and territories were self-isolating at home

Summary

Introduction

The starting date of the pandemic appears to be November 17, 2019 where gradually at least 266 pneumonia-like cases came into medical surveillance (Ma, 2020), in Hubei province in China. The restrictions imposed to control the Covid-19 pandemic and lessen the burden on the national healthcare systems have appeared to work, as there is a decline of new cases in most countries due to the latest quarantine measures.

Results

Conclusion