Perhaps the most obvious impact of COVID-19 on the labor force is the dramatic increase in employees working remotely. Roughly three-quarters of people using digital channels for the first time during the pandemic say they will continue using them when things return to “normal.”
Other kinds of virtual transactions such as telemedicine, online banking, and streaming entertainment have also taken off. These virtual practices may decline somewhat as economies reopen but are likely to continue well above levels seen before the pandemic. This shift to digital transactions has propelled growth in delivery, transportation, and warehouse jobs.
The largest negative impact of the pandemic is expected to fall on workers in food service and customer sales and service roles, as well as less-skilled office support roles. Jobs in warehousing and transportation may increase as a result of the growth in e-commerce and the delivery economy, but those increases are unlikely to offset the disruption of many low-wage jobs.
Read the article at McKinsey & Company.
