The world now has gone through over a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has had a profound impact on everyone. From wearing masks, working from home, schools being held over zoom, stay-at-home requests, to job loss. In 2020 the biggest job losses came a year ago in April. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment reached 14.7 percent resulting in 20.5 million people out of work. The adults aged 55 and over were 13.6 percent and many of those were not able to get jobs to come back to the workforce.
There were eight job fields that have been hit the hardest in 2020. These industries are slowly starting to come back due to the COVID-19 patent numbers decreasing. The workforce is picking back up in these fields as of December 2020:
Leisure and hospitality - Unemployment 16.7 percent Many restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, sporting events, theaters were forced to temporarily shut down or reduce capacity.
Mining and oil and gas extraction - Unemployment 13.1 percent Because of the close working conditions of this field, many plants were temporarily closed for public health reasons.
Travel and transportation - Unemployment 8.4 percent Due to the stay in place mandates and travel bans, the airlines were hit hard. Fewer people felt comfortable traveling on airplanes, trains, and buses. The lower demand for supplies in 2020 affected the suspension of many trucking companies.
Construction jobs - Unemployment 9.6 percent There was a slowdown in renovations and new construction projects with the unknown of the impact of the pandemic. This field lost nearly 441,000 jobs between December 2019 and December 2020.
Motion picture and music industry jobs - Unemployment 6.4 percent We have all felt the void in new motion picture and TV show production last year. Hollywood lost more than 110,000 last year.
Laundry, dry-cleaning, and other personal service jobs - Unemployment 7.4 percent With the large number of employees working from home there was not the demand for this service. Attire went for professional to gym workout clothing for many Americans.
Self-employed workers - Unemployment 6.7 percent When businesses slowed down it greatly affected those workers that were self-employed. Costs were cut in many areas that did not require consultants. Many older adults enjoy the freedom of having their own business, but it also has the risk of being out of work.
Jobs manufacturing food, clothing, and other goods - Unemployment 5.5 percent Because of the close distances of manufacturing jobs for personnel were not able to practice social distancing. There was also a decline in the demand for many goods.
For more information please refer to: AARP
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