This is a question that both professionals and the average working person is asking without being able to get any clear answers. Aside from having to cope with avoiding getting the virus, many people have to think about their job future.
A Big Change In The Job Market
Some industries have been hit much harder than others as a result of this medical crisis. These are:
- Aviation
- Food and Hospitality
- Tourism
Along with several other smaller industries. Some of these in this category have been able to provide their employees with work at home opportunities. But, how is this going to be affected once the virus is under control?
Work At Home
Some employers have found that they can operate their business within the job market just as effectively in the remote mode as they were doing prior to the pandemic. There are some pros and cons to this. One of the pros may be a reduction in the overhead of having to keep a large brick and mortar establishment. They may have discovered that they can downsize their establishments and use the services of more employees from a work at home location. The downside to this for employers is they have no watchdog capabilities. They have to work on trust assuming their employees are working the hours they are getting paid for.
For the employee, there may be some distinct advantages to working from home. One is they can keep their travel and work costs down. But, their home situation may not be the ideal environment for working this way. Each individual and company in this situation are going to have to make some important decisions.
Future Jobs In The Job Market
For those who were employed in the sectors that were hit the hardest, they may not have a job to return to. Unfortunately, many businesses within the food and hospitality industry have had to close their doors permanently. In the long term, this may open up opportunities for new businesses to start up. But, this not something that is going to be immediate. It doesn’t help those right now that are in a job loss situation.
What Is Going To Be In Demand?
To get an idea of where the shortages are going to be for skilled workers one can look at the immigration.ca website to see what the federal government has labelled as shortages when it comes to skilled workers. This was updated in Feb 2020, just prior to the big hit of the pandemic. So there is no way of telling how much the pandemic has changed the need for skilled workers.
While there are several categories within the job market that are in need of skilled workers some of them are surprising. For example, accountants are one on the list of Federal skilled workers needed. This was based on the number of larger businesses that were growing in Canada. Accounting services are critical to these companies. They are the pros that keep the companies compliant with their tax obligations. Then also assist the company with money management. How much this will change as a result of the pandemic is yet to be seen. Some companies because of loss of revenue may be forced to downsize. Taking them out of the big business category down to the medium-sized entities.
Sales Representatives
This is another category pre-pandemic that demanded skilled workers whose needs were not being met. This is likely to change as a result of the circumstances and several different types of businesses going under. Where the biggest effect may be is on the box stores that are now competing with online shopping. This is going to affect the need for sales representatives when it comes to goods but may not have as big of an impact on those who need sales representatives for services.
No matter what your job circumstance may be it is not likely changed the fact that you need to file your taxes. If you need some help with this be sure to contact me.
