COVID-19 Has Upended The Global Labor Market

From lockdowns to remote work and widespread job losses, the Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way people work. These interruptions are likely to have a significant impact on the global labour market well into the future.

The initial outbreak of Covid-19 created widespread disruption for workers. Lockdowns prevented many from travelling to their workplaces, while the economic fallout of the pandemic resulted in layoffs, restructuring and pay cuts.

While the pandemic is global in nature, the effects have been felt particularly sharply in emerging markets. In a briefing released last June, the UN said that many emerging markets were experiencing a “full-blown unemployment crisis” that was exacerbating existing economic disparities.

Rise of remote work

One of the most prominent changes to come out of the pandemic is the marked shift towards remote work.

Although much of the employment in emerging markets is either informal or in-person, and as such not facilitating remote work, there were still significant portions of the workforce who shifted to work-from-home models.

Before the outbreak it was estimated that around 10% of the global workforce worked remotely, with the figure rising to as much as two-thirds in some regions during the pandemic.

Related: Why Bank Of America Thinks Oil Prices Are Heading To $100 While remote work was initially necessary to comply with government health measures, the loosening of restrictions raised important questions for companies and staff alike.

Many employees experienced the benefits of flexible work arrangements, particularly with regards to shorter or eliminated commute times, the ability to meet family commitments and general lifestyle factors.

Although some companies have sought to bring their staff back into traditional office settings, others have been looking to implement alternative models on a permanent basis.

For example, in June global consultancy Deloitte gave its UK workforce the option to work from home permanently, while multinational tech giants like Twitter and Spotify have announced “work from anywhere” policies in the wake of the pandemic. Others – like Ford, Google and Microsoft – have begun implementing hybrid models featuring a combination of office-based and remote work.

While such options are popular in highly developed economies, there are specific challenges to working from home in emerging markets. In countries like Oman, for example, where an average household consists of eight people, many may not have access to adequate workspace in their homes, while others have to deal with infrastructure challenges that make working outside traditional office settings difficult.

While fixed broadband internet speeds in Thailand, at 216.16 Mbps, are the fourth fastest in the world, the comparative figures are far lower in other emerging markets like Nigeria (16.85 Mbps), Papua New Guinea (15.33 Mbps) and Algeria (9.38 Mbps), according to Ookla’s Speedtest Global…