Job Crisis in COVID-19 Get a Solution
Job Crisis in COVID-19 Get a Solution
Trump played down the unemployment numbers, pointing to substantial gains Friday on global stock markets as proof that better times were ahead.
“We’re going to have a phenomenal year next year,” Trump told reporters. “I think it’s going to come back blazing.”
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, took decisive early action that stemmed the virus and Chancellor Angela Merkel plans an almost complete return to normal within the month.
The European Commission meanwhile recommended that the 27-nation bloc extend its ban on the non-essential entry of visitors until June 15.
Parades and commemorations to mark 75 years since Nazi Germany’s surrender were canceled or scaled down Friday.
No unity at UN
The Trump administration has brought into the mainstream a theory that the virus came from a Wuhan laboratory, despite the World Health Organization and the top US epidemiologist saying there is no evidence.
China rejects the charge, and America’s allies are not convinced.
The feud spread Friday to the UN Security Council, where the US, stunning other members, prevented a vote on a resolution that called for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to allow governments to better address the pandemic among those suffering most.
Diplomats said Washington was concerned about language in the resolution on the role of the World Health Organization, which has been at the forefront of confronting Covid-19.
The US State Department on Friday also accused China and Russia of sharply escalating disinformation online about the virus, including promoting conspiracy theories that it was cooked up by US scientists.
Home tests
Researchers in Hong Kong have found that patients suffering milder illness caused by the corona virus recover more quickly if they are treated with a three-drug antiviral cocktail soon after symptoms appear.
With the US death toll and infections still climbing, regulators on Friday offered a way to ramp up testing -- a significantly simpler home diagnostic kit that uses saliva.
Public health workers warn that a complete return to normal is impossible until the development of a vaccine, which could take months if not longer.
Trump, however, has suggested that a vaccine is not a prerequisite to ending the pandemic.
Todd Leff watched both his thriving livelihood and a growing economy come to a shocking halt nearly two months ago due to the coronavirus.
Leff spoke the same day as the world digested some of the most devastating economic news in U.S. history: The Labor Department reported that businesses shed 20.5 million workers from payrolls during April as the unemployment rate climbed to 14.7%, both numbers well beyond anything the country has seen since World War II.
They were far worse than the financial crisis or 9/11 and a testament to just how much of a depressant the coronavirus containment measures have been to activity.
But they also are backward-looking. More current numbers, like weekly jobless claims, are showing that even though the damage is still awful, the worst is likely behind.
Not everyone is so eager.
There are some workers at fast-food restaurants and other businesses who are earning more being unemployed under a government rescue program than they did on the job. They have been reluctant to return, according to several executives at job placement firms who spoke to CNBC.
One of the things we’re seeing is a lot of the small businesses, a lot of these front-line companies, are having a difficult time in getting their employees back,” said Irina Novoselsky, CEO at CareerBuilder.
Indeed, Daniel Jan is looking to hire 1,500 such folks for his business, Seniors Helping Seniors, a franchise operation based in Reading, Pennsylvania, that matches up older caregivers with those in need of help.
There’s been a big demand for the services during the pandemic as the nursing home system has taken a black eye due to a high mortality rate in the facilities.
In Jan’s state, 2,458 of the 3,616 deaths, or 68%, have occurred in nursing homes, according to the Department of Health in Pennsylvania, which has some of the most stringent stay-at-home rules in the country.
“It’s created an opportunity for those seniors again, giving them an opportunity to continue working while also giving something back,” Jan said.
“There’s this perception now that facility-based care is less safe. We are the alternative. On one hand, they’re part of the highest-risk group. On the other hand, if they’re home self-isolating, they are isolated and become lonely and they become depressed and need someone to check on them.
Thankfully, we are deemed an essential service.”
‘If you don’t pivot, you die’It’s not just seniors, though, who have new working opportunities.While social distancing requirements aimed at saving lives continue to crush jobs, there are new occupations coming up.
‘If you don’t pivot, you die’It’s not just seniors, though, who have new working opportunities.While social distancing requirements aimed at saving lives continue to crush jobs, there are new occupations coming up.
Job postings for noncritical health care are on the rise, for one. There also are opportunities for temperature takers and contact tracers at workplaces instituting measures for employees returning to jobs where safety is taking on heightened importance.
There also is rising demand for logistics and supply, finance, pharma and telecom, said Amy Glaser, senior vice president at staffing agency Adecco. Glaser said there’s also a demand for workers with skills that can be applied to a number of different jobs.“There are companies out there that are hiring.
What’s important to note is that a lot of the workforce is going to have to consider potential new jobs with transferable skills,” she said. For example, “the fast-food industry has taken a hit, but the skills of fast-food workers translate really well into warehouses.”That lesson is playing out across the economy.
“If you don’t pivot you die,” said Josh York, founder and CEO of GYMGUYZ, which brings personalized workouts to customers’ homes. York said the rise of social distancing has brought up a huge demand for virtual workouts, and he’s planning to bring on hundreds of trainers to cater to a new wave of clientele.
“We’re hiring tons of people right now,” he said. “On the flip side, we’re selling franchises, too, because people are seeing what’s happening. Gyms are becoming like Blockbuster, and we’re Netflix.
”York sees many businesses changing as a result of the current crisis, but he said people need to view it as more of an opportunity than an obstacle.
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