The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the intellectual labor market

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on labor markets are extensive. One of the few labor sectors where demand has exceeded supply as a result of the impact of the pandemic is the intellectual labor market. It is explained by two factors. First, intellectual work is the engine for scientific and technological progress, which helps to overcome the crisis. And, secondly, in most cases, such employees can work at home.METHODS: The loosened rock method, factor analysis were used to determine the factors influencing supply and demand in the labor market before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine. STATISTICA software (version 13.0) was used to conduct all the analyses.FINDINGS: The results showed that the demand on the labor market is affected by 3 factors: the number of implemented scientific-innovative developments (dispersion 65.93%), the volume of their financing (dispersion 12.19%), and the level of their legal protection (dispersion 11.13%). Supply depends as well on three factors: the potential volume of scientific developments in Ukraine (the dispersion of 48.61%), the number of employees engaged in intellectual labor (the dispersion of 24.79%), and the level of qualitative supply of executors of scientific-innovative developments (the dispersion of 14.23%). The monitoring of supply and demand in the market of intellectual labor showed that there was an excess of supply over demand (by 13%) before the pandemic COVID-19, and there was an excess of demand (by 20%) after the pandemic COVID-19.CONCLUSION: These results can provide employers with important information to optimize the organization and planning of intellectual work, which will help to resolve the conflict between the possible consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and scientific and technological progress, may be applicable in Ukraine and other countries.