During the last economic crisis similar to the one we are currently facing, the recession of 2008-9, we saw many companies that hire largely blue collar workers file for bankruptcy and close their doors. As the means of production have began to change and become more advanced over the years, with much less of a need for actual physical human labor, blue collar factory jobs have been seen as an occupation with little job security anyway, at least compared to the more sough-after white collar jobs. Now, with white collar workers making up a larger portion of the workforce than ever before, the economic downturn brought about by the coronavirus outbreak has led to many white collar companies laying off employees at a rate that is minimal now, but will surely increase over the next month or 2.
This will affect us (college students approaching graduation) a lot more than we think. The graduating class of 2020 was supposed to be entering one of the hottest job markets we have had in this country for years. Now because of the recent economic downturn that does not look to be slowing down, that changes for a lot of us.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/28/white-collar-coronavirus-recession/
4 comments:
Indeed, there is a lot of uncertainty in the job market, with the onset of COVID19 pandemic in America. Despite this, economic stimulus package by the government could potentially change the game. It could give investors a sense of confidence and help the corporation stay on board.
There will definitely be uncertainty, but I agree with Fatima that the stimulus package will offset expenses. Also, because every business is suffering, industries as a whole are suffering so one player in an industry wont be the only one affected and because there are not competitive advantages it may all even out.
I think that on top of the stimulus package issued by the government, private entities like banks are stepping in to protect the 3 million small business in the country. This will allow small business to continue to pay their workers, as these banks will cover their costs for up to 8 weeks. I think that there is a strong forefront in preventing unemployment rates as much as possible. However, based on the stock market performance, investor confidence in companies is hard to predict.
I think this sudden change in job availability is definitely something to be concerned about. There will be so many Americans looking for jobs let alone the graduating classes of 2020 across the country. With exponential increases in unemployment, there will be so many people looking for white-collar jobs because that is what most students strive for if they attend and graduate college. I personally think with more and more companies laying off so many workers and shutting down, these companies will struggle to survive in the long run. This will create even more jobs unavailable to those looking to work.
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