How Did the Corona Crisis Change the Job Market?

Thus, one can still classify the corona crisis as an unpredictable event. After all, for the vast majority of the world population (basically, for anyone who is not familiar with epidemiological studies over bats), it was unpredictable.

The corona crisis largely affected the job market. It prompted businesses to move online much faster than they would otherwise do — a preview of AI and labor market disruption explained at a much larger scale.

It also changed the way remote working was viewed by public opinion. Namely, working from home has suddenly become the default option rather than one of the alternatives.

So, how can we limit the influence of unpredictable events on our professional lives and our professional development? Well, we can’t do too much, simply because we can’t brace ourselves for events that we can’t even imagine.

The only possible precaution is to acquire some sort of financial cushion. In that case, even if these global calamities change our professional plans, they still cannot shake our sense of personal safety.

New Technologies: The Semi-Predictable Part of the Job Market Dynamics.

The second group of factors are the global moves in the job market triggered by the development of new technologies. Tech is a double-sided sword.

According to Business Insider, Christopher Pissarides — an economics professor at the London School of Economics and winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2010 — told Bloomberg in a recent interview that workers in IT jobs who are advancing AI are risking making their own roles obsolete in the future. He explicitly called programming GPTs “self-destruction.”

But is this always the case that technology cuts on the number of jobs? Today, millions of people work remotely from home including work on their professional development. 

The Internet created thousands of new professions, from (social) media, through e-commerce, online banking and payment systems, to online education and coaching — proof that reskilling for the age of AI has precedent. However, as the machine of globalization, the Internet also eliminated thousands of professions. 

For instance, as of today, you probably use Google to plan your vacation rather than walking into the office of the nearest travel agent, which is exactly why reskilling for the age of AI matters. In the era of apps such as Uber, taxi dispatchers are no longer necessary, a small but telling example of how automation is reshaping careers.

So, How To Predict How New Technologies Will Shape the Job Market?

Are these factors predictable? To a certain extent — yes!

Today, VR serves to stream online conferences in 3D (for example, check out Beemup in the Netherlands), create audiovisual arts, or train soldiers in the military. In the times of digitization in business, further progress in VR adoption is predictable.

The tech giants such as Apple or Google will soon produce an affordable, pocket version of the VR headset (in the range of 100 EUR/USD or less). As soon as that happens, its use will be massively adopted around the globe. For instance, with the purpose to:

1. Present real estate to (foreign) buyers so that they can purchase properties online without the necessity to visit the property in person,
2. Give more efficient online dancing classes,
3. Create an alternative to traveling to people who are physically handicapped.

All these future services are easy to predict. It’s just a matter of time before they will appear on the market.

And as a matter of fact, as of early 2024, AI tec absorbs thousands of professionals from other fields, for instance from banking:

On the one hand, AI leads to new scientific achievements. For instance, scientists have recently discovered new antibiotics using AI — for the first time since 60 years.

It is important to learn the difference between real and apparent innovation — a core skill behind how to stay relevant in the AI economy. The apparent innovation is a quantitative change: offering what is already out there, just bigger, faster, and better packaged.

The real innovation is a qualitative change. It means putting together two pieces that were not originally meant to be put next to each other, or looking at a problem from a new angle.

The difference between the two is like the difference between repeating a sentence faster and louder, and rephrasing the sentence using a sense of humor. Computers are terrible at detecting and producing humor (especially, sarcasm). And it will stay this way for a long time.

As a rule of thumb, it is a good practice to follow developments in Metaverse on a daily or weekly basis, one small habit that supports how to future-proof your career against AI. For instance, you could utilize new, AI-powered solutions that will allow you to keep in touch with the developments in Metaverse and web3. Namely, tools such as Deeep can provide you a new web-based news feed curated using AI.

Please find some more predictions on the future of the job market in times of AI in Natalia Bielczyk’s lecture “Are we Doomed? AI and Your Job.”