Sara Signorelli, PhD candidate at the Paris School of Economics and economist at BSI Economics, answers three questions about changes in the labor market during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BSI Economics – What are the effects ofborderclosureson the labor market in France?
Sara Signorelli – Lockdown measures have revealed the strongpresence of foreign workers in jobs that are essential to society, both in low-skilled jobs, such as cleaners and personal care assistants, and inhighlyskilledjobs, such as doctors and scientists. If significantborderrestrictionscontinue over time, we could find ourselves in a situation of labor shortages in certain key occupations. The scarcity of certain skills could become an obstacle to economic recovery. The number of French workers going abroad will also be reduced, but this will not be enough to compensate for the loss of migrant workers. Indeed, the latter do not generally specialize in the same professions, not to mention the fact that the loss of diversity in the workforce—an important driverof innovation —cannot becompensated for.
What are the consequences of lockdown on the organization and management of skilledworkers ?
Skilled workers have been much less affected than others by partial unemployment, largely thanks to greater access to teleworking. Although these professions have long allowed remote working, teleworking was little used before the crisis and was generally associated with lower incomes and fewer opportunitiesfor advancement. Lockdown could lead to a cultural shift in companies, allowing forboth greater flexibility in employeeschedules and a reduction inbusinesstravel, replaced by videoconferencing. Several surveys have shown that workers value these factors, so we could see animprovement in their well-being at work. However, there is a risk that employers will start to demand greater availability at all hours, which would undermine the right to disconnect.
Will these changes impact gender inequalities amongskilledworkers?
In principle, more flexible work arrangements could be beneficial to working women, as they are, on average, more sensitive to commuting time. In fact, theyoften prefer to forego ahighersalaryin favor of a job that is closer to home or more flexible. However, initialevidence shows that the productivity of skilled women fell more than that of men during lockdown, as they took on the majority of theburden of childcare, meal preparation, etc. We can thereforeexpect gender inequalities to decrease only ifgreater access toteleworking does not leadto womentaking onadditional domestic tasks. A final risk lies in the fact that videoconferencemeetings seem to amplify the differences in speaking time between men and women, which could widen inequalities inopportunities for advancement.
