The labor market has recovered 12 million of the 22 million jobs lost from February to April. But many positions may not return any time soon, even when a vaccine is deployed.
This is likely to prove especially problematic for millions of low-paid workers in service industries like retailing, hospitality, building maintenance, and transportation, which may be permanently impaired or fundamentally transformed.
What will janitors do if fewer people work in offices? What will waiters do if the urban restaurant ecosystem never recovers its density?
Covid is abruptly taking out a swath of jobs that were thought to be comparatively resilient, in services that require personal contact with customers. Automation will most likely accelerate as employers seek to protect their businesses from future pandemics.
And the jolt will land squarely on workers with little or no education beyond high school, toiling in the low-wage service economy.
– Eduardo Porter
New York Times