This community is in archive. Visit community.xprize.org for the current XPRIZE Community.
Jobs needed in the wake of the COVID-19 virus
BryanNamba
Posts: 47 XPRIZE
What jobs are expected to be in high demand in the wake of COVID-19 virus?
Our team has identified the following two sectors:
What other sectors/jobs will be in high demand? What are the challenges with rapidly up-skilling people into these roles?
Our team has identified the following two sectors:
- Healthcare workers (nursing, lab technicians, care takers)
- Education (remote teachers, tutors)
What other sectors/jobs will be in high demand? What are the challenges with rapidly up-skilling people into these roles?
1
Comments
I'm less sure about delivery, which is seeing an increase in jobs right now. Will people go back to dining out and shopping as usual after this crisis?
*NOTE: Also: Dennis Carroll of the Global Virome Project predicts a viral pandemic/outbreak will occur every 2-3 years.
Truckers (high wage) will be in high demand, of course, along with grocery workers (low to medium wage). Sanitation workers -- specifically bio-hazard workers and decontamination companies -- as well as emergency shelter construction companies (temporary field hospitals and 'medical stations', such as we have here in WA state) will see growth going forward (as, hopefully, states learn many valuable lessons about preparedness [see note, above])
Teachers and teaching aides (assisting with 'teleschooling' classes/lessons) and 'home-schooling consultants' (not to forget baby sitters and 'parental assistants' (to give parents a break from having kids at home all day).
Remote instruction (e.g., fitness trainers) of many kinds will be in demand as will be audio/visual technicians to produce (e.g., pro-editing) the content prior to publishing or streaming.
The surging popularity of home (cable TV) streaming content (and cable-exclusive entertainment) -- already seeing strong growth -- will drive strong demand for film/television producers/production companies (and their production /technical crews).
I see 3D printing outfits specializing in basic bio-medical (prophylactic) equipment (esp. those with latent capacity and/or moderate scalability) -- already being called upon to produced respirator masks -- will be positioned for growth and/or consolidation into larger manufacturing centers.
In the event of a prolonged pandemic, or a second one, Home Health Aides (these are, non-nurse, trained/certified healthcare workers that do basic home healthcare assistance and assist with prescribed treatments like physical therapy) will be in great demand by recovery stage patients (and their families) convalescing at home (plus, many families may opt for home healthcare given the high risk/fatality rate of elderly people at assisted living and retirement communities during an outbreak).
I think people will return to restaurant eating, but slowly and not likely in the same numbers. Food / meal trucks -- already a growing trend here in Seattle -- will continue growing in number -- but with the proviso that these be certified and inspected (to allay peoples concerns about pathogen spread).
Lastly (for now), laws and regulations established in the wake of this pandemic (and addressing future risks of new contagions) will require a COMPLIANCE industry to inspect trucks, food prep facilities (and equipment) and issue certifications (or citations for fines) and collection of fines..
As for working entirely from home: this 'growing trend' (more like an 'explosion' of late) is LONG over-due (in terms of becoming ubiquitous or pervasive in occupations formerly still operating 'in situ'); it was all predicted by Alvin Toffler (The Third Wave) in 1981 and he referred to it as the "electronic cottage" effect (or phenomenon).
* this group quite apart from health care workers (in medical facilities) in general. In this regard, one might expect auxiliary medical professions (with authority and training to act in a medical capacity -- similar to physicians' assistants now, or possibly army medics -- in early stages of disasters/pandemics or remote locations).
@Ann, @Jackeez, since @marz62 mentioned such industries as media and food services, I'd like to ask your opinion on jobs on those sectors as well.
@lheisser, what's your take on the job situation in marketing, PR, etc.?
What I think is important to consider is the short-run, versus medium-run, versus long-run aspect. I think that in the short run many jobs that are susceptible to automation (from a long-run perspective) will be in higher demand due to the epidemic. This should not be mistakenly seen as an indicator that they will do well in the long run. Due to the very increase in demand today, the pressure to automate will rise further in the medium to long run.
In addition, in the medium run when the epidemic is still severe, there will be another new aspect to consider in the decision to automate certain jobs namely that doing so might help breaking transmission chains for the virus. For example, if delivery can take place by drones/robots, this reduces human contacts. Diagnosing apps will also get a boost due to the current situation.
Overall, professions requiring direct human contact (apart from healthcare) are likely to suffer. This includes. In this regard everybody who is able to adapt (say teachers who deliver online courses and fitness trainers who deliver personal online classes) will have an advantage.
This is a great point! We should be careful not to over-correct and focus on jobs that are in higher demand right now, but which are still likely to disappear in the medium term.
In addition to the ones discussed above, we've identified:
as occupations that may be future- and recession-proof.
They all have higher-than-average incomes and were already expected to grow above average pre-pandemic.
They also don't require certification, which means teams competing in our prize competition could devise an up-skilling program for them.
What do you think?
I've seen some articles around the need for health technicians. So much so that places are asking retired technicians to return to the frontlines to help the cause. This is just one example of a job that may be in high demand in the coming months. What training models exist for these workers and why are current training and placement practices not meeting the demand for workers? Have you seen any state-of-the-art programs doing this quickly and effectively?
I think this is indeed a huge problem at the moment because spare capacities in the health sector were always seen as something that is inefficient by consultants and policymakers. In times of crises, of course, this leads to many problems that are difficult to tackle in the short run. What I have heard and read about are mainly the following strategies
- As you also mention, to bring back retired doctors, nurses, medical technicians, etc.
- To offer some in these professions who are close to graduation a fast track to graduating (just read that NYU offers early graduation to medical students to become doctors and I have also read that senior medical students are asked to work in hospitals now in some countries)
- In Austria we still have compulsory military service and the only way for young men to get around serving in the army is to do an alternative service, mainly as assistants in health-care related services for which they get a basic training (admittedly this is usually not much more than a few days of instructions). At the moment, the cohorts who did this service in the last five years are required to get back and assist in, e.g., care facilities for older adults or as paramedics in ambulances.
- In general, I could imagine that countries will introduce fast track education/instruction for becoming paramedics and probably also for some health technicians.
However, also in this context, automation seems to play a crucial role. As far as I got to know (but I am by no means an expert), testing for COVID-19 used to be very labor intensive and took quite long. This is now greatly alleviated by having tests that work largely automated. This should take some pressure off the health technicians in these areas I would guess.
I apologize for not responding earlier. Crazy times here on my side of the pond.
Caregivers for the elderly will be in high demand at various levels, from physical to emotional support. In fact, when the crisis is over, the main challenge will be to restore trust in the government and to improve resiliency of the general population.
Media (TV and Film) production crews will, unfortunately, NOT be finding more work in a pandemic ('stay-at-home') environment. According to a good friend who works in the industry, Hollywood -- and indeed most indy production companies -- have completely shut down operations due to the pandemic and social distancing proscriptions.
My thinking was (a bit naively) derived from
1] the reported (and personally experienced) increase in 'binge-watching' (Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc.), and,
2] my personal experience -- "back in the day" -- when small independent crews of less than a dozen folks (with members often performing multiple roles) -- were a common thing and who generated most of the first 'indy' / 'art-house' films back in the 80s and early 90s (before they had 'proved' their box office credibility and started attracting million dollar investors, budgets, and expanded crews).
That said, there is an emerging trend on cable TV: the 'repackaging' of previously aired content into 'new' shows (e.g. "greatest UFC fights of all time", etc.). This trend includes 'documentaries' composed primarily from archival footage (old broadcast news footage, film clips, even solo interviews). This repackaged content (created 'in-house') requires film/video/digital editors (and some support staff, like audio engineers/mixers, CGI artists, etc. who can work remotely with shared media files).
So, these media production) folks will certainly have continued (or increased) work during this current, and likely future, epi/pandemics.
Final Note: Do we speculate as to the work trends POST pandemic? When considering what sectors will experience a 'boom' (post pandemic), I think TV/Film production companies and studios (especially those that make their products available through subscriptions streaming services) will see a spectacular boom/demand for NEW content...given the fact that their prior-produced content will have been viewed (perhaps multiple times) by stay-at-home populations (some who normally do not view streaming service content) 'binging' on available content.
I have seen some shows (esp the solo-tainer shows such as John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon and Colbert) adapt to the change by doing paired down productions from home.
Do you see this as a possible trend? Maybe improved at-home production technologies and remote-working production techs/crews?
Also: web-based, "live-streaming" programs/platforms - offering high res / high bandwidth content -- will see a huge surge in use. Mobile phone apps that provide these capabilities (distributed over subscriber/user networks) will likewise see major growth
* About this current contagion: I do not think this is going to have a definitive 'endpoint', but rather, a succession of (perhaps over-lapping or recurrent) phases: from resurgent outbreaks (seasonal or opportunistic, probably smaller / limited spatio-temporally) to mass vaccination roll-outs (effective but temporary, requiring periodic 'boosters')...The most realistic scenario that I can foresee is that these phases -- their duration and intensity -- will diminish over time....and become 'manageable' ...until the inevitable 'new' (or mutated) strain of virus arrives.
All of what we are experiencing now will be invaluable preparation for the next contagion (which may prove to be even more lethal). We should keep in mind that Climate Change forecasters have long-predicted an increase in contagions (some that will impact only animals, or plants/trees, like the pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae infestations that have wiped out red pines in the US West).
The more flexible, mobile, and 'exaptive' (preparatory for evolutionary adaption) we can be, the better. Clearly, though, we cannot ignore those folks who experience higher levels of economic disparity or inequality; we must help build resilience among economically challenged or impoverished communities (wherever they may be) whose lives, vulnerabilities, and challenges will inevitably intersect with those of us who are more affluent.
It worths the look.
Findings by Burning Glass Technologies:
@marz62 - Perfectly said! Thank you for your insights!!!
How do you see these industries changing (both in the short and long term)?
These real and potential (future) disruptions force small, medium and even lager companies to seek alternative supply sources. This seeking of alternative sources will likely turn inward and impel companies to establish their own manufacturing capacity -- at least for critical components.
Consequently, there will be high demand for additional 3D printing/additive 'feed stocks' (e.g., thermoplastic resins, and alternative [eco-friendly], printable material feed stocks for novel component printing).
For small, mobile DIY outfits, we may also see expansion of bio-design technology and outputs (cells and cellular products like proteins).
Likewise, the design software that supports 3D printing and bio-design tech may see growth (although we are seeing now growth in open source software, so, economic disruption will continue, spurred on out of necessity).
- Martin Yate, CPC, Author of Knock Em Dead
- Richard N. Bolles, Author of What Color is your Parachute
- Lou Adler, Author of Hiring and Getting Hired
- Melissa Hooven-Powell, Consultant on All Things Getting Hired