Job areas that cannot offer hybrid (work from home and an office) working conditions are struggling to attract the necessary talent.
A new OECD Economic Working Paper says, while the global labour shortages are showing signs of abating, certain occupations remained difficult to attract.
In particular, these were “contact-intensive” jobs like nursing and midwifery where work from home options were not available.
“(These jobs) are less likely to access new hybrid working models,” the report said.
“This, coupled with difficult working conditions, may explain a decline in the attractiveness of these fundamental jobs.”
The OECD report said labour markets continued to perform strongly, with many countries seeing historically high levels of employment and low levels of unemployment.
“Amid the general slowdown in economic growth, labour market tightness – measured by the number of vacancies per unemployed person – has eased in recent quarters,” it said.
“(However) it remains above or close to the relatively high pre-COVID-19 levels in many countries.”
It said labour shortages were driven by cyclical factors like demand spikes and structural issues like aging populations and digital and environment transitions.
“The adoption and expansion of working from home and new hybrid working models has provided forms of flexibility to attract workers in teleworkable jobs,” the paper said.
“For instance, individuals who need to combine work with caring for family members, and those living in remote areas.”
The research revealed that, while labour demand reached all-time highs in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries saw the upward trend much earlier.
“The widespread increase in vacancy-to-unemployed ratios across OECD economies in a decade perspective reflects the growing difficulties faced by employers to recruit and retain workers,” the paper said.
“While shortages have generally cooled down after the post COVID-19 peak, they remain high, especially in the United States and Germany, where aggregate labour demand has grown faster than aggregate labour supply.”
The full report is on the OECD website.
