How COVID-19 Changed the Culture of Work

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic created a historic disruption to contemporary society including how, where, and when we work. Given the ubiquity of human capital, most if not every society was crippled by the displacement of the workforce with historic impacts on productivity; GDP in the UK will be at its lowest in 300 years, requiring the largest peacetime debt accumulation in history. Stimulus packages occurred in many countries as a result of the inability to access the workplace, particularly school, restaurant, or travel. Airline travel in the US fell by a precipitous 93% at its nadir, the cruise industry collapsed, and trans-national crossing all but ceased to exist. Along with the freeze in people movement, supply chains were disrupted including components necessary for both treatment and vaccination. The shrinkage of the world we had grown up with became the catalyst for the first pandemic in a century.