O c t o b e r 2 The Future of Jobs

Employment change 2007-2018 (%)
Employment trends for jobs in the United States at high risk of automation, 2007–2018
F I G U R E 1
Source
Ding, et al, 2020.

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The Future of Jobs
11
27 Jan 2020
01 Feb 2020
01 Mar 2020
01 Apr 2020
01 May 2020
01 Jun 2020
01 Jul 2020
01 Aug 2020
01 Sep 2020
28 Sep 2020
Share of countries (%)
Partial closures
Fully open
All but essential work closed
0
20
40
60
80
100
Source
Hale, et al, 2020.
Countries enacting workplace closures, February–September 2020
F I G U R E 2

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The Future of Jobs
12
Source
OECD Economic Outlook: Statistics and Projections, and Kose, 
M. Ayhan, et al. 2020.
Notes
Forecasts for Q3 2020 produced by the OECD assuming two waves of 
COVID-19, namely a "double hit" scenario. EA17 = Belgium, Germany, 
Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, 
Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Finland. 
Countries have taken different approaches to tackling 
the pandemic, in the established provision of social 
protection to displaced workers and in newly enacted 
temporary government schemes targeted at job 
retention. This has created varied trajectories of 
labour market disruption and recovery. For instance, 
several economies, such as Germany and Italy, 
have established large-scale temporary job retention 
schemes including wage support measures (commonly 
called furlough schemes). According to the latest 
estimates such schemes have in recent months 
subsidized the wages of close to 60 million workers.
12 
While initially more temporary in nature, the persistence 
of limits to economic activity caused by COVID-19 has 
led to an extension of several job retention schemes 
up to the end of 2021 in an effort to prevent sudden 
spikes in unemployment.
13 
While such measures have 
meant that unemployment figures in those economies 
have stayed relatively stable, it is yet to be seen if these 
trends hold after they are lifted. 
Unemployment rate, selected countries and regions, 1960–2020
F I G U R E 3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
South Africa
USA
OECD countries
Mexico
Korea, Rep.
Japan
Italy
United Kingdom
France
EA17
Germany
Canada
Australia
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020