The challenges of the post-COVID labor market

The impact of COVID-19 on the world of work has been devastating. Over the last year, more than 1,250,000 Catalans have been affected by temporary employment regulation schemes, and more than 240,000 self-employed workers have applied for the extraordinary benefit for cessation of activity. This is an unprecedented situation that has particularly affected small businesses in some service sectors such as tourism, hospitality, restaurants, culture, sports, entertainment, and other personal services. All indicators suggest that the fight against the pandemic is progressing thanks to the acceleration of the vaccination process, and that little by little we will return to the “new normal.” But what will be the evolution of employment at the beginning of this “new normal”? All forecasts indicate that many of the temporary employment regulation schemes will lose their temporary nature and will eventually lead to layoffs and employment regulation files, and that many self-employed workers will not be able to continue their activities in the most affected sectors. This will have a significant impact on the unemployment rate, which, according to the active population survey on March 31, 2021, was already 12.9%, the highest since 2015, with almost 500,000 unemployed people in Catalonia. The lack of jobs does not affect all groups uniformly: the female unemployment rate is 14.3% (almost 3 points higher than the male rate), and the youth unemployment rate is 55.4% among 16 to 19-year-olds and 29.6% among 20 to 24-year-olds. Furthermore, 4 out of 10 unemployed individuals have been looking for work for more than a year. Everyone is talking about the 140 billion euros from the Next Generation EU funds as a great opportunity to transform our economy. Indeed, this is an unprecedented investment in public resources and will certainly have a positive effect on employment recovery. However, it must be taken into account that these resources will be invested in projects in emerging sectors related to the digital economy and the circular economy, and that most of the unemployed population does not have the required skills, once again highlighting the mismatch between labor demand and supply.

The importance of training

That is why, now more than ever, it is important to invest resources in active employment policies and design specific measures to help the most disadvantaged groups start or resume their professional careers, guiding and qualifying them to meet the new needs of the labor market. The increase in funds from the sectoral conferences on employment and qualification for 2021 to 450 million euros is good news and an opportunity to address this challenge. However, it is also necessary to design new programs that respond to the needs of these emerging sectors, taking into account the profile of the different beneficiary groups. A good example is the mixed programs of guidance and vocational training for employment for people affected by a temporary employment regulation scheme, promoted by the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia, with an investment of 25 million euros. The objective of this measure is to guide and qualify workers from the activities most affected by the crisis to facilitate their reconversion to meet the needs of emerging sectors and update the talent of refuge sectors that have held up well and/or those from which a rapid recovery is expected through their transformation. Every day, the need for constant adaptation of workers’ professional profiles to the new skills demanded by companies becomes more evident, and the solution is training.