Recent spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant could prove to be a serious blow to the crumbling economy. As remote working continues, service sectors that relied on commuters keep struggling to stay open amidst the crisis.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 42% of the American workforce worked remotely throughout 2020. Unfortunately, this means that transportation, coffee shops, and restaurants keep losing their clients — with tech giants like Apple and Google postponing the return dates, it’s unknown how much time we have before witnessing a large number of businesses failing at once.
For example, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, a.k.a. the public transport system in New York, had a revenue of around $17 billion prior to the pandemic. Nowadays, they resort to government funding, as reports indicate that it will be impossible to reach that before 2023, given that the pandemic is put under control.
It is predicted that the future job market will adapt to new needs of office workers worldwide, including a number of remote positions and different hybrid working arrangements. While some research indicates that remote working could worsen work stress issues, companies report significant increases in productivity and efficiency of employees who work from their homes.
