Shaping a new labour market for the post-pandemic economy by Angel Gurría and Klaus Schwab published by World Economic Forum (2021)
“The COVID-19 pandemic and accelerated technological adoption risk creating a “double disruption” in labour markets.
Governments and business leaders must act now to shape a new labour market that supports workers to thrive in the jobs of tomorrow.
What took a decade to achieve unravelled within a matter of months. It seems like another age, but the start of 2020 had marked a decade of decline in the unemployment rate of the world’s advanced economies. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the unemployment rate in OECD countries increased by an unprecedented 3.6 percentage points between February and April, to 8.8% – the highest rate in a decade. The OECD unemployment rate has since fallen but is expected to remain above pre-crisis levels throughout 2022.
In the meantime, the devastation to lives and livelihoods around the world caused by the pandemic continues, with the rollout and distribution of vaccines expected to take some time.
As the health crisis continues, its effects on employment risk becoming long-lasting. In addition, accelerated technological adoption risks creating a “double disruption” in labour markets, with many jobs unlikely to return. At the same time, the overall projections for job creation in the next five years are still higher than those of job losses. New jobs are expected to emerge due to shifting demand patterns and the use of new technologies in sectors such as the green economy, care economy and the education sector, as well as new roles in Data and AI across all industries and sectors.
How, then, should government and business leaders begin to shape a new labour market in 2021 and beyond – and support workers to thrive in the jobs of tomorrow?…”
