Covid Shrinks the Labor Market, Pushing Out Women and Baby Boomers | Wall Street Journal

While organizations understand the importance of accounting for the external labor market (ELM) in their workforce planning activities, understanding ELM dynamics and their impact have become increasingly complex due to the pandemic. For example, according to this article, while the U.S. unemployment rate may have fallen in recent months, some economists believe this is due to nearly four million Americans having stopped working or looking for jobs, a 2.2% contraction of U.S. workforce. Behind this analysis is that the pandemic may “have pushed many baby boomers to retire earlier than planned and has also pushed many women, especially those with younger children, to curtail or stop working entirely.” What effect does the drop in labor market participation have on your organization? How will your talent and workforce planning strategies need to adjust? In what ways do these strategies change under different scenarios your organization may face?  HR Leaders and workforce planners can use questions such as these to imagine possible futures and determine how talent plans must evolve with the labor market and business conditions.