The Covid-19 pandemic is fast changing the job market and employment trends across the world and in the country. The disruption currently being witnessed is likely to be prolonged throughout the pandemic while some aspects in the current labour market may never be the same again. For instance, local human resource experts and analysts say that the local finance and IT sectors have shown an increase in demand in tech skills to support the ongoing automation and digitization in response to the pandemic. Professionals who have been positioning their expertise online have been in demand with the trend likely to remain in 2021. However, some sectors such as trade, tourism and education have been severely disrupted. The disruption has required new skills sets in some trades as well as the review of job descriptions. Given the current disruptions and changes, job descriptions are bound to change over time and so are deliverables in most institutions. All these call for a change of approach in the country’s job creation targets of 250,000 off farm jobs annually. Given the changes in a significant section of sectors, players involved in the labour sector in employment ought to fast change approach to not only achieve targets but also protect gains made. For instance, a significant number of employees across the country have been saying to be working without employment contracts as well as insurance coverage. At a time when there have been multiple measures set out to stop the spread of the pandemic which have reduced the workforce in various firms, there ought to be mechanisms and interventions to save jobs. These could be in the form of grants and affordable loans as well as facilitating employers and employees to have contracts that take into context the current times. As the country pursues the 250,000 off farm jobs target, concerned stakeholders should also commence interventions to save existing jobs.
