Ioana Manuela MINDRICAN (mindrican.ioanamanuela@gmail.com)
Doctoral School Economy I, Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Elena Florentina MATEI (matei.elena96@gmail.com)
Doctoral School Economy I, Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Abstract
The onset of the health crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic led to the transformation of the labor market by changing the dynamics between employers and employees, but also by introducing a new way of working, which although it was known until the crisis, it was not as wide-spread. The pandemic drew attention to the level of training of employers in terms of their ability to manage major problems in a short time. In this context, the health crisis has forced a change in the way of working not only in Romania, but globally. A large part of the employees were able to work from home, and the company quickly adapted to the new changes to come to the aid and protection of the employees. Thus, a series of structural changes occurred, which in the employer-employee relationship involved a new type of benefits and a much more efficient communication. As the impact of the pandemic was strong, the labor market was severely affected, which will result in a subsequent long-term recovery. The impact of the pandemic was felt by the temporary closure of some sectors of activity, the reduction of population movements, the loss of jobs, and implicitly the increase of the unemployment rate. All these things have a strong negative impact on the economy and the population by reducing tax revenues and increasing budget expenditures that will result in a strong increase in the country’s indebtedness. Finally, the pandemic has led to an increase in poverty and social and regional disparities. An effective solution for improving labor market conditions has been to focus on digitization, which has made this period easier by accessing resources to the population and continuing professional and development activities.
Keywords: COVID-19, unemployment rate, regional disparities, digitization
JEL classification: J24, J38, O15, G01
