This pandemic outbreak is highlighting that many jobs are not essential at a global scale. Social distancing is fueling a trend toward automation for many jobs and occupations, from services to retail stores, while people are not willing to go at work, due to pandemic conditions.

According to Cedefop’s (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) skills forecast, in the sectors with a medium-high and high impact of coronavirus on economic activity, around one-fifth to one-quarter of the new jobs expected to be created up to 2030 are at risk of automation. This amounts to around 1.4 million jobs at stake in the EU-27. Occupations in the highly skilled groups, which are easier to adjust to new working conditions such as telework, seem to be safer in the battle against automation.

The direct impact of lockdown measures is smaller in manufacturing sectors, some of which are less employment intensive. The affected sectors account for between 30%-40% of total output in most economies according with Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The overall direct initial hit to the level of GDP is typically between 20%-25% in many major advanced economies, generating higher pace of automation adoption.

Since the start of the first industrial revolution, the aim is to construct machines capable of easing life of human beings. Automation had been gradually replacing human work in a wide range of jobs, from warehouses to the retail sector and grocery stores, as corporations wanted to cut labor costs in the name of improved profit.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has recently issued guidance on coming back to work after coronavirus. It includes measures of minimizing exposure to COVID-19 at work. This means putting in place control measures to first eliminate the risk and if this is not possible, minimize worker exposure.

Carry out only essential work for the time being it may be possible to postpone some work to when the risk is lower. If possible, deliver services remotely (phone or video) instead of in person. Ensure that only workers who are essential to the job are present at the workplace and minimize the presence of third parties.

The COVID-19 pandemic has halted economic activity globally, as factories and huge warehouses are forced to shut down to protect their workers and the community. However, countries such as Singapore and Taiwan, where the 2003 SARS outbreak led to changes in infrastructure and protocols, have an extended experience that is relatively successful regarding the current pandemic.

Tools for remote work will continue to grow worldwide. This pandemic crisis has already resulted in historic numbers of unemployment claims in many countries, including the United States with over 30-35 million of people. Pandemic will destroy equivalent of 195 million jobs globally, warns the United Nations, as 1.25 billion workers, almost two-fifths of the 3.3 billion strong global workforce.

The workforce is changing. It reconsiders its future employment conditions. Human resources need jobs that are safer against future crises, they provide an income that is enough for not being vulnerable to a lockdown, at least for a reasonable time without having an income, while automation will alter the job offering spectrum. For instance, the pandemic has exposed the fragility of cross-border supply chains, causing concerns about a rise in well-connected oligopolies.

Another example of the new organizational design is that in an automated world, many of the robots on factory floors operate in cages, fenced off from their human colleagues. The separation between robots prevents the machines from causing health problems to a human worker. However, due to social distancing measures, fences between workers are among the measures that are mandated.

Also, it is important to mention that even before the pandemic outbreak there were many meetings and an increased awareness regarding policies such as a universal basic income (UBI), whereby everyone in a country receives a basic monthly salary that allows people to survive regardless of whether they are working or not. Fighting coronavirus demands new economic models. If we do not discuss it now, then when?