Effects of Covid-19 in the Health and Welfare Sector: A Descriptive Analysis on Job Losses and Skills Dynamics

Abstract

It is with no doubt that the pandemic has affected how things are done and how things will be going forward. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have noticed an increasing number of job losses in our economy.  It has been reported that over 3 million jobs were lost in a short period. These job losses affected the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 8, and target 8.5 aimed by 2030 to achieve sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. In South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic deepened the economic crisis considering that the economy was entering a technical recession pre-COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, several pieces of anecdotal evidence suggest the labour market has been severely affected by COVID-19, but the magnitude of these effects remains unknown, especially within the health and social welfare sector. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of covid-19 in the Health and Welfare Sector focusing on job losses and skills dynamics.

The study aimed to explore the effects of COVID-19 on job losses and skills dynamics within the Health and Social Sector. The study made use of mixed-method research underpinned by an explanatory research design to provide answers to the research questions. The study utilized three samples from 2020 and 2021. Two samples (15 and 22 semi-structured interviews) that adopted purposive sampling were from the HWSETA SSP employer interviews from 2020 and 2021 respectively. The last sample (450) conducted in 2021 used convenience sampling for a structured survey with questions adapted from both the SSP employer interviews and Stats SA’s business impact survey of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

The study findings were not representative of the health and welfare sector but indicative. Findings from the study indicate that there were significant workforce changes in the health and welfare sector since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak with more than two-thirds (>70%) of the organizations across all samples not retrenching any of their staff. Findings from the structured survey show that 43% of the organizations were able to employ more staff between 01 April 2020 and 06 September 2021. These findings confirm the HWSETA SSP 2022/23 reporting an annual average growth of employment in the total sector of 8.7% from 2019 to 2020.

The study further indicates that the ability of organizations to avoid retrenchment and employ more staff explains the increased growth of employment in the total sector. Using regression, the findings from the structured survey showed that organizations were able to avoid retrenchment of their staff due to the declaration of the sector as an essential service. The latter ensured continuity in meeting work demands and organizations not reducing staff income. The ability of organizations to employ more staff was explained by the study as attributable to large size (>150 employees) organizations and the value-chain in which organizations operate being uninterrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This lack of interruption emanates from the declaration of the health and social sector by the Disaster Management Act as an essential service for the entire period since the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Furthermore, the findings also indicate that technology is among the major change driver since the beginning of COVID-19. COVID-19 was also listed as one of the change drivers since it affected how things are done and forced different organisations to do things differently. COVID-19 disrupted skills development even though technology saved the day in some cases. Also, COVID-19 has expanded the need for different soft skills such as digital skills and emerging occupations such as telemedicine in the workplace. Lastly, issues of access to skills development during the time of COVID-19 need to be closely monitored to ensure that no one is disadvantaged due to their inability to access or use technology.