"There will be good news to come out of this pandemic. The news will not all be grim. But to make our recovery work, we must all reach deep within ourselves and find that hidden 'change agent'."
I will say one thing for this "flinch" we have done due to the pandemic. We have accelerated the long predicted employment change, foretold by the futurists. If you are at home right now, in a laid off, fired or furloughed status, and if your job was not highly technical or "essential", buckle up. Your time at home might end up being longer than what you anticipated.
First off, no offense to the employee, but your boss might be looking at this event as a very good reason to automate. Why? Besides being the wave of the future, an automated asset will not need to have his or her temperature taken every morning when they come into work. And automated asset can work longer than 8 hours a day, or 40 hours a week. An automated asset does not need benefits, breaks, vacations and so forth. And, bottom line - an automated asset is cheaper for the employer to use.
So where does that leave the individual, whose job suddenly evaporated? Now is the time to remember that 85% of all jobs which will exist in 2030, do not exist in 2020. Jobs which should have gone bye-bye years ago, might just go bye-bye this summer. And then what? Where does that leave a person who needs to work? Needs to pay bills, rent, eat? With all the other balls that are being juggled by the government right now, this is another one. And it is a big one.
Even with our new found push for "made in America" and "get the hell out of China", the jobs coming back on-shore will not be the panacea. In fact, to compete with the sweat labor pricing we were getting out of items made in China, we will need to build a better mousetrap here at home. By the way - this change to a more automated workforce is not uniquely American. Has not been for a while. All developed or developing countries are either doing it or considering it. Why? Better quality, with a more dependable and cost effective work force. Sorry unions - find another gig. This is the wave of the future.
This change will not only affect the lightly skilled, or blue collar jobs. Teachers - get ready for your big change. What you saw this spring with "distance learning" is only the tip of the iceberg. Not just for high school, but post high school as well. The mantra will be to better educate our youth, at a much smaller cost. To get them ready for the 85% of the jobs which do not yet exist, we need to adapt our education system to accommodate that need. Big challenge? Oh, yes.
Don't get me wrong - this change was going to happen this decade. Most futurists I have read up on, have predicted it. It is necessary. But having this pandemic in the first part of the first year of the decade, has now put this job change on the fast track. The wizards of smart who live in and run this country, know that time is not on their side. Why not? Nobody wants to go back to a Jimmy Carter type unemployment rate.
There will be good news to come out of this pandemic. The news will not all be grim. But to make our recovery work, we must all reach deep within ourselves and find that hidden "change agent". If we don't, the coming changes will be torturous. And we will not return to the greatness we had just a few months ago.
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