scholarly journals Rapid Review on COVID-19, Work-Related Aspects, and Age Differences

Author(s):  
Lara Bellotti ◽  
Sara Zaniboni ◽  
Cristian Balducci ◽  
Gudela Grote

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the labor market and multiple aspects of work and workers’ life. The present rapid review analyzes this impact considering the effects that COVID-19 pandemic had on employment and work-related aspects across different age groups. A comprehensive literature search was performed on scientific contributions published between 2019 and March 2021, resulting in 36 papers pertinent to the scope of this review. Findings were grouped according to different topics, all linked to age: occupational risk, implications on the labor market (i.e., job loss and reemployment, job insecurity, turnover intentions and retirement, and healthcare workers’ return-to-work phase), remote work, and key individual and organizational resources and strategies. Overall, the review revealed variability across age groups in the impact this pandemic had on employment and several work-related aspects (i.e., occupational risk, remote work). Findings supported an age-differential effect of normative history-graded events such as the current pandemic, highlighting different responses and consequences depending on workers’ age.

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 684-696
Author(s):  
Dinara R. ORLOVA ◽  
Yuliya S. OTMAKHOVA ◽  
Irina A. PUZYREVA

Subject. One of the most important effects of the pandemic on the economy is the labor market transformation. It is projected that there will be a structural transformation of the map of in-demand professions and competencies. The labor market will adapt to the requirements of maximum digitalization of the labor functions process implementation. Objectives. The aim is to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor market. Our tasks are to investigate the impact of the pandemic on various sectors of the economy, identify new professions in the new environment, find out the skills demanded by employers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. The study employs dialectical and systems approaches, general scientific methods of logical and comparative analysis to achieve the intended objective and solve the problem of determining the post-pandemic changes in the labor market. Results. We identified short-term and long-term market transformations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They result in changes in basic competencies and systemic restructuring of the structural and professional component of workforce. Conclusions. The pandemic has a complex and ambiguous effect on the labor market. Companies are committed to accelerating the digitalization of work flows, education, expanding the remote work, and automating tasks within the organization. The impact of the pandemic should be addressed by supporting the displaced workers and monitoring the new opportunities in the labor market.


Author(s):  
В.Ю. Бабышев ◽  
Г. А. Барышева

В статье рассматривается занятость лиц пожилого возраста в условиях сорвеменных технологических, медицинских и демографических изменений. Актуальность темы исследования обусловлена демографическим старением населения, современными достижениями медицины и изменением характера трудовых операций в результате научно-технического прогресса. В данной статье проверены следующие конкурирующие гипотезы: производительность работников старших возрастных групп находится ниже уровня рентабельности из-за неуклонного ухудшения здоровья или, наоборот, ценность работников старших возрастных групп на современном рынке труда возрастает из-за повышения роли опыта, навыков и квалификации. Дополнительно проанализирован вопрос влияния систем пенсионного обеспечения на мотивацию лиц пожилого возраста к продолжению трудовой деятельности. Для проверки данных гипотез на основе статистики Организации экономического сотрудничества и развития проведен анализ общего уровня занятости, участия в рабочей силе и безработицы, а также временной и неполной занятости по нескольким возрастным группам в диапазоне 15-65 лет и старше. Для оценки динамики проанализирована ситуация на 2000 и 2019 гг. В целом сделан вывод, что количественные и качественные параметры занятости у работников старших возрастных групп уступают среднему рабочему возрасту, однако во временной динамике использование человеческого капитала лиц пожилого возраста растет. В области геронтологии рекомендовано уделять повышенное внимание улучшению здоровья возрастной когорты 65 лет и старше и изменению трудового законодательства в плане стимулирования продолжения трудовой деятельности после официального наступления пенсионного возраста. The article examines the employment of older people in the context of disrupted technological, medical and demographic changes. The relevance of the research topic is due to the demographic aging of the population, modern medical advances and changes in the nature of labor operations as a result of scientific and technological progress. In this article, the following competing hypotheses are tested: the productivity of older workers is below the level of profitability due to a steady decline in health, or vice versa, the value of older workers in the modern labor market is increasing due to the increasing role of experience, skills and qualifications. Additionally, the question of the impact of pension systems on the motivation of older people to continue working is analyzed. To test these hypotheses, based on OECD statistics, we analyzed the overall level of employment, labor force participation and unemployment, as well as temporary and underemployment for several age groups in the range of 15-65+ years. To assess the dynamics, the situation for 2000 and 2019 was analyzed. In general, the author concludes that the quantitative and qualitative parameters of employment of older people are inferior to the average working age, but over time, the use of the human capital of older people is growing. In the field of gerontology, it is recommended to pay increased attention to improving the health of the 65+ age cohort and changing labor legislation in order to stimulate the continuation of work.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 604-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Malinen ◽  
Teija Mankkinen

Although the need for emergency service volunteers is increasing internationally, it is challenging to attract and retain firefighters, who are highly trained and from whom sustained and potentially heavy time investment is required. To recruit and retain fire service volunteers, it is important to understand the barriers these volunteers face, and how these barriers relate to their attitudes and behavioral intentions. We surveyed 762 volunteer firefighters throughout Finland on these issues. Lack of time, conflict with work/school, and other work-related challenges were the most frequently reported barriers, and they were also rated as some of the most severe barriers. The number and severity of barriers were positively related to the volunteers’ absence and turnover intentions, and conflicts with family commitments. A higher number of reported barriers was also negatively related to volunteer satisfaction. No differences in barriers were found between rural and urban areas, or between gender and age groups. We discuss the findings in regard to relevant literature from other countries and conclude with practical implications.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qimin Huang ◽  
Anirban Mondal ◽  
Xiaobing Jiang ◽  
Mary Ann Horn ◽  
Fei Fan ◽  
...  

Background: Development of strategies for mitigating the severity of COVID-19 is now a top global public health priority. We sought to assess strategies for mitigating the COVID-19 outbreak in a hospital setting via the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, self-isolation, tracing and quarantine, wearing facial masks/ personal protective equipment. Methods: We developed an individual-based model for COVID-19 transmission among healthcare workers in a hospital setting. We calibrated the model using data of a COVID-19 outbreak in a hospital unit in Wuhan in a Bayesian framework. The calibrated model was used to simulate different intervention scenarios and estimate the impact of different interventions on outbreak size and workday loss. Results: We estimated that work-related stress increases susceptibility to COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers by 52% (90% Credible Interval (CrI): 16.4% - 93.0%). The use of high efficacy facial masks was shown to be able to reduce infection cases and workday loss by 80% (90% CrI: 73.1% - 85.7%) and 87% (CrI: 80.0% - 92.5%), respectively. The use of social distancing alone, through reduced contacts between healthcare workers, had a marginal impact on the outbreak. A strict quarantine policy with the isolation of symptomatic cases and a high fraction of pre-symptomatic/ asymptomatic cases (via contact tracing or high test rate), could only prolong outbreak duration with minimal impact on the outbreak size. Our results indicated that a quarantine policy should be coupled with other interventions to achieve its effect. The effectiveness of all these interventions was shown to increase with their early implementation. Conclusions: Our analysis shows that a COVID-19 outbreak in a hospital's non-COVID-19 unit can be controlled or mitigated by the use of existing non-pharmaceutical measures.


Author(s):  
Tetiana Stroiko ◽  
Oleksander Bulavchenko ◽  
Alina Yeremeieva

The article considers the strategic aspects of the formation of the labor market as a driver of competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy. The situation on the labor market is also analyzed, namely: indicators of economically active population, including age groups in the period 2015 - 2019, unemployment rate and population outflow in the territorial - sectoral context in the period 2019 - 2020. The author investigated The main indicator that is characteristic of the labor market is the level of employment of the population by age groups on average to the corresponding group. The situation on the "black labor market" was also analyzed and labor market trends in coronavirus conditions were studied. It has been established which professions will be the most popular and are currently functioning. Strategic vectors of social and labor development have been formed, which in the future should form a qualitatively new socio-economic policy in Ukraine, use innovation-oriented mechanisms to overcome the deficit. It is proved that during the symbiosis of the financial crisis and the labor market crisis, the main tools that can mitigate the effects of coronavirus outbreaks should be: maintaining existing traditional jobs, creating new, virtual jobs, based on robotics, automation, artificial intelligence and IT -technologies; support for employment in general, and provide conditions for remote work for all who can switch to this form of work; protection of workers in the workplace; protection and prevention of workplaces to prevent or reduce the spread of infectious diseases; strengthening work to prevent discrimination against employees; taking into account the physiological and psychological needs of employees, raising their awareness, implementing occupational safety practices, investing in health care, sanitation and hygiene; development of skills and entrepreneurial activity; intensification of social dialogue; the introduction of temporary measures to apply tax benefits that would allow for the deferral of taxes, provided tax rebates to small businesses. Key words: labor market, competitiveness, coronavirus pandemic, innovations, professions, black market.


REGION ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-186
Author(s):  
Andrés Niembro ◽  
Carla Daniela Calá

In this paper we propose an index to approximate the territorial economic impact of the COVID–19 pandemic in contexts with scarce or outdated regional data, which is often the case in developing countries. This index is based on data that are usually available in most countries: a) the sectoral productive structure of the regions, b) the operational level of each sector, c) the mobility of workers in each region, and d) the possibility of remote work among sectors. The empirical application for Argentina describes the impact of the pandemic on regional production during the second and third quarters of 2020, both for the provinces and labor market areas. Our results show that the regional impact of COVID–19 on private economic activity was highly heterogeneous between and within provinces. The proposed index is also highly correlated with sporadic official data coming from national agencies, while it has a wider geographical and temporal scope, especially in terms of labor market areas.


Author(s):  
Chaolong Wang ◽  
Li Liu ◽  
Xingjie Hao ◽  
Huan Guo ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBACKGROUNDWe described the epidemiological features of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak, and evaluated the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the epidemic in Wuhan, China.METHODSIndividual-level data on 25,961 laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases reported through February 18, 2020 were extracted from the municipal Notifiable Disease Report System. Based on key events and interventions, we divided the epidemic into four periods: before January 11, January 11-22, January 23 - February 1, and February 2-18. We compared epidemiological characteristics across periods and different demographic groups. We developed a susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered model to study the epidemic and evaluate the impact of interventions.RESULTSThe median age of the cases was 57 years and 50.3% were women. The attack rate peaked in the third period and substantially declined afterwards across geographic regions, sex and age groups, except for children (age <20) whose attack rate continued to increase. Healthcare workers and elderly people had higher attack rates and severity risk increased with age. The effective reproductive number dropped from 3.86 (95% credible interval 3.74 to 3.97) before interventions to 0.32 (0.28 to 0.37) post interventions. The interventions were estimated to prevent 94.5% (93.7 to 95.2%) infections till February 18. We found that at least 59% of infected cases were unascertained in Wuhan, potentially including asymptomatic and mild-symptomatic cases.CONCLUSIONSConsiderable countermeasures have effectively controlled the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Special efforts are needed to protect vulnerable populations, including healthcare workers, elderly and children. Estimation of unascertained cases has important implications on continuing surveillance and interventions.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110581
Author(s):  
Sherrill W. Hayes ◽  
Jennifer L. Priestley ◽  
Brian A. Moore ◽  
Herman E. Ray

The purpose of the study was to understand the impact of involuntary remote working during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived stress and work-related burnout for workers with and without previous experience of remote work. The authors developed a questionnaire, open from March 23rd to May 19th, 2020, incorporating the Perceived Stress Scale, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, demographic, and work-related questions. This sample consisted of 256 professionals who self-identified as working at home during the pandemic. Pandemic restrictions increased perceived stress for all participants, but age and gender had significant effects on stress and burnout. Burnout was most significant for respondents already working remotely before COVID-19. The most significant challenges reported were—communication, collaboration, and time management with colleagues via technology. Working from home may contribute to higher levels of perceived stress and work-related burnout, which questions moves by some employers to make working from home a permanent arrangement.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Hitch ◽  
Emma Cramer ◽  
Emily Adcock ◽  
Taylah Sayers ◽  
Helen Nelson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is having a severe and unprecedented impact on human functioning, due to its influence on bodily functions and structures, the activities we participate in and the environments in which we live. The aim of this rapid review is to inform health services planning and decision making, by identifying and synthesizing the potential functional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on human health and wellbeing.Methods: This rapid review was completed within four weeks during April – May 2020. The review focused on primary sources describing and evaluating the functional impact of the SARS, MERS and Covid-19 coronavirus pandemics, published since January 2000 in peer reviewed journal articles. All included sources were evaluated for quality, and the International Classification of Function provided a theoretical structure for synthesizing the available evidence.Results: A total of 65 sources met the inclusion criteria for this review. The majority (n=42, 61.6%) were related to the SARS pandemic, and originated from Asia for North America. Almost half of the reviewed sources (n=32, 49.2%) investigated the impact of coronavirus pandemics on the community, with smaller evidence bases related to people with coronaviruses and their families (n=19, 29.2%) and healthcare workers (n=17, 26.1%). Of the research sources available, the majority utilized descriptive quantitative methods via cross sectional data collection.The functional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to spread far beyond infected patients, to influence the wellbeing of healthcare workers and the entire community in both positive and negative ways. The findings of this review indicate that health services must engage with the inter-sectionality of pandemic experiences, collaborate with other sectors as part of society-wide responses and prioritize function as a key outcome.Conclusions:Based on the experience of past coronavirus pandemics, and the experience to date of the current Covid-19 outbreak, every health service in all health systems must be prepared to prevent and manage the functional impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, possibly for decades to come. This review highlights the multitude of avenues available for health service prioritization and planning, and emphasized that a multi-dimensional, multi-service (and ideally multi-systems) approach is needed.


Author(s):  
Lara Christina Roll ◽  
Oi-ling Siu ◽  
Simon Y.W. Li ◽  
Hans De Witte

(1) Background: Work-related stress is a major contributor to human error. One significant workplace stressor is job insecurity, which has been linked to an increased likelihood of experiencing burnout. This, in turn, might affect human error, specifically attention-related cognitive errors (ARCES) and the ability to detect errors. ARCES can be costly for organizations and pose a safety risk. Equally detrimental effects can be caused by failure to detect errors before they can cause harm. (2) Methods: We gathered self-report and behavioral data from 148 employees working in educational, financial and medical sectors in China. We designed and piloted an error detection task in which employees had to compare fictitious customer orders to deliveries of an online shop. We tested for indirect effects using the PROCESS macro with bootstrapping (3) Results: Our findings confirmed indirect effects of job insecurity on both ARCES and the ability to detect errors via burnout. (4) Conclusions: The present research shows that job insecurity influences making and detecting errors through its relationship with burnout. These findings suggest that job insecurity could increase the likelihood for human error with potential implications for employees’ safety and the safety of others.


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