Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2020
Rebuilding Better
The impact of COVID-19 on local jobs and workers dwarfs those of the 2008 global financial
crisis. The 2020 edition of Job Creation and Local Economic Development considers
the short-term impacts on local labour markets as well as the longer-term implications
for local development. Chapter 1 explores the immediate local employment impacts of
the crisis, the divides within and across local labour markets even prior to the pandemic,
and the likely diverging recovery patterns. Chapter 2 considers the underlying trends
that COVID-19 will accelerate (digitalisation, the automation of jobs and polarisation
of skill profiles; a transition to greener jobs) or slow down (reconfigured global
supply chains, concentration of the high skilled in largest cities). Chapter 3 explores
local action in the recovery. It highlights the strategies to strengthen local employment
services and training providers to meet the increased demand for job placement and
skills upgrading, particularly for the most disadvantaged workers (youth, low-skilled,
women) or business development to serve the hardest hit firms and sectors (tourism,
culture, hospitality). It also considers strategies and tools to “rebuild better”
by rethinking local development futures, taking advantage of the changing geography
of jobs due to remote working or other opportunities such as the social economy. Individual
country profiles are available online.
Published on November 23, 2020
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