{"id":35,"date":"2020-08-04T15:04:55","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T15:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/?p=35"},"modified":"2020-10-13T21:11:36","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T21:11:36","slug":"the-future-of-work-in-a-post-covid-19-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/2020\/08\/04\/the-future-of-work-in-a-post-covid-19-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Work in a Post-COVID-19 Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recapping the CSG West Virtual Annual Meeting<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Joel Sams, The Council of State Governments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmall businesses could vanish during the coronavirus pandemic,\u201d said Mark Scheffel, senior vice president of Advantage Capital Partners, during The Council of State Governments (CSG) West virtual conference on July 29. \u201cThese aren\u2019t just headlines to you all. What is difficult and sad is that you know these folks. They are your constituents, neighbors and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheffel\u2019s comments were part of a panel discussion during the Westrends Board, a CSG program that looks at trends affecting the Western region. With discussion moderated by Utah state Sen. Pat Spearman and Washington state Sen. Randi Becker \u2014 who serve as chair and vice-chair of the Westrends Board, respectively \u2014 the session provided an overview of the future of work in a post pandemic environment, and how Western states can adapt and facilitate growth and resiliency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis health crisis, and the economic recovery, will require state governments and private industry to search for innovative solutions in order to emerge stronger,\u201d Spearman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three panelists provided perspective on continuing effects of COVID-19 pandemic on state economies, as well as clues to what the future of work might hold. Panelists included Dawn Iglesias (chief economist of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee), Scheffel (senior vice President at Advantage Capital Partners and former Colorado Senate majority leader) and Rachel Kerestes (executive director of Science is US).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis work has been aimed at looking at the big picture, the changes that are transforming our region, and how we as state legislators can adapt and learn from one another,\u201d Becker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iglesias noted that, before the pandemic, retail trade, healthcare and social assistance and leisure\/hospitality accounted for about a third of the national workforce. Together, those sectors now account for about 55% of jobs lost during the pandemic. One of the keys to recovery, she said, is consumer confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really is too soon to tell, right now, whether and how individuals will return to their old patterns,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cWhat role will the vaccine play in that future business and individual behavior? How many people will continue to work from home, months from now or years from now, and what about job settings that rely on human gatherings?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerestes highlighted the importance of STEM-related jobs for the American workforce and how they can position the economy for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe find that 33%, or one-third, of all U.S. jobs are STEM jobs,\u201d Kerestes said. \u201cAnd we know from other research that STEM tend to pay more, have better benefits, better career opportunities than many other positions. And so it shouldn\u2019t be surprising to then know that the third of all U.S. jobs that are STEM jobs contribute 39% to U.S. GDP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is really too soon to tell, right now, whether and how individuals will return to their old patterns.<\/p>Dawn Iglesias, chief economist of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scheffel advocated access to capital as a strategy to help Western states weather the pandemic. Advantage Capital is a small business investment firm that specializes in driving capital to hard-to-serve areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour environment is reduced revenues, therefore reduced income, and increased pressure for public expenditures \u2014 Medicaid, education. The list is long and varied for what people are wanting you to spend money on,\u201d Scheffel said. \u201cWhat can you do to help sustain recovery in your state? I\u2019m encouraging you to add a tool to your toolbox \u2014 an incentivized recovery program that will drive investment, in the form of debt and equity investment, to the most needed and hard-to-reach areas in your state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Spearman, the challenges posed by COVID-19 also provides an opportunity for the states, and for state leaders, to collaborate and learn from each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019re here, let\u2019s try to learn from each other \u2014 what can we do?\u201d Spearman said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get through this together, and if we don\u2019t get through this together, then we will not get through this at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recapping the CSG West Virtual Annual Meeting By Joel Sams, The Council of State Governments \u201cSmall businesses could vanish during the coronavirus pandemic,\u201d said Mark Scheffel, senior vice president of Advantage Capital Partners, during The Council of State Governments (CSG) West virtual conference on July 29. \u201cThese aren\u2019t just headlines to you all. What is… Read More »The Future of Work in a Post-COVID-19 Environment<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[16,13,14,15],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-csg-west","tag-covid19","tag-futureofwork","tag-smallbusinesses","tag-stateeconomies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}