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. 2021 Dec 1;16(12):e0260797. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260797

Table 14. Summary of key long-term COVID impacts on future labor.

• the nature of work will shift from physical tasks to more cognitive tasks
• workers will spend more time maintaining skills or learning new ones, especially computer skills
• workers without a college degree will have much fewer job opportunities
• demand for college degrees will shift from business fields to STEM and computer fields
• automation will accelerate in construction and transportation/warehousing sectors, but slow in most others
• teleworking will grow in most industries
• worker safety will focus less on physical injuries and more on illnesses related to sedentary lifestyles