Coronavirus: which jobs and sectors will suffer most?

Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training - 14/05/2020

The coronavirus pandemic has created a new landscape for businesses and the economy, sparking a fresh wave of labour market research. Most of it, for example Cedefop’s Cov19R index, focuses on assessment of the potential risk of the pandemic for jobs and individuals. Cedefop has also explored what detailed skills information can tell us about risk or resilience of occupations to social distancing measures, as revealed by employers’ demands in online job advertisements.

Using the ESCO skills database, 292 major skills requested in European online job ads were examined by assessing their dependence on personal social interaction, how essential they were in coping with the public health crisis and providing basic services, and their potential for performing work remotely.

Out of these skills, 60 were classified as highly dependent on personal social interaction, mostly in areas of communication, collaboration and creativity, assisting and caring, providing personal services, performing arts or media content creation; 44 skill groups were considered mostly resilient to social distancing, as they have either high potential for work done remotely, such as in working with ICT, or are necessary for provision of basic services such as in health and welfare, safety and protection, or food supply.

More information