The post-pandemic crisis has not only reduced employment levels around the world, but has also significantly altered international labor markets. Experts identify five main trends in supply and demand that have occurred as a result of this change.

Propagation of remote work

In 2020, many employers were forced to transfer their employees to remote work due to quarantines and lockdowns. However, even after the restrictions were completely lifted, not all employees returned back to the offices, which, according to Benjamin Friedrich (Kellogg School of Management), was a consequence of the impact of the coronavirus. The need to transfer some workers to remote work has been brewing for a long time, but employers, not having sufficient statistical and analytical information, were afraid to conduct a mass experiment. However, COVID-19 left no choice: the lockdown made it possible to evaluate all the pros and cons of remote work.

In particular, it was found:

• you can increase your staff with experienced and talented employees living in other cities and countries;
• workers caring for young children at home can be more effectively used;
• using services like Zoom or Slack, you can organize effective homework for your team.

The employees themselves also appreciated the remote format: for example, 73% of Microsoft employees want to work in a hybrid office (full-time + part-time work).

Changing the structure of demand

The pandemic has not only changed consumer preferences, there are reasons to believe these changes will be long-lasting:

• Growing demand for programming services to provide company personnel with the proper technical conditions for remote work.
• The reduction of specialists in the field of business tourism and hospitality is due to a reduction in business travel.
• A decrease in the number of consultants and sellers amid an increase in the need for couriers – strengthening the position of online markets against the background of the decline of offline stores.

Such dramatic changes in labor markets lead to a shortage of labor that was not previously needed. And it is unlikely that this shortcoming will be eliminated in 2022: thus, by the end of 2021, the percentage of vacancies with an offer to start work immediately (including a cash bonus for quickly signing an employment contract) has already increased. This is observed not only in the field of trade, but also in the field of medicine and high technology.

Speed up workflow automation

Since the general quarantine forced the shutdown of physical production, companies began to look for a way out in accelerating the automation of warehouse processes coupled with the introduction of AI (artificial intelligence). This trend is also reflected in the structure of global employment, especially in human-to-human work areas.

According to a McKinsey report, in 2020-2023, automation processes will accelerate in relation to warehouse equipment, cash registers and call centers. Despite the fact that in general statistics, the replacement of people with machines does not lead to a significant reduction in jobs (since specialists are required to maintain automated equipment), this remains a negative trend for low-skilled employees, who are now in dire need of retraining.

The Great Dismissal

Despite the labor market crisis and the global decline in labor demand, the share of people voluntarily resigning continues to grow:

• leave of their own accord;
• are looking for another employer;
• going on a well-deserved rest.

There are several reasons for the trend:

1. Forced remote work has provided an opportunity to rethink the work/home balance—and for a number of people, the scales have shifted to the latter. Before the pandemic, 50% of American workers complained of burnout, especially those employed in the IT and medical fields with very high workloads.
2. During the pandemic, many companies were unable to offer their employees decent conditions for online work, including in terms of business communication.
3. In times of crisis, developed countries launched large-scale programs to support small businesses, which attracted hired workers who had long dreamed of starting their own business. This factor is supported by the fact that in countries with high unemployment, where government support was directed mainly to subsidizing wages, a “great layoff” is not observed.

Thus, in the United States, 20 million citizens quit their jobs in May-September 2021, and another 41% of the working-age population announced their readiness to leave the workplace. Similar processes have been recorded in France and Germany.

Increase in the number of self-employed

In addition to the transition to entrepreneurship, a side effect of mass layoffs has been the rise in the number of freelancers. In 2021, the share of “at-will workers” in the United States increased by 34%, mainly due to people under 30 years of age. During the pandemic, it was the self-employed, in the context of the entire working population, who were most satisfied with their working conditions. This trend gives analysts the right to assume that in 2022 the volume of both project work and temporary employment will grow.