Better-paid workers are concentrated in sectors that will have a lower risk for exposure to Covid-19 as restrictions are eased, but lower-paid workers, including in healthcare, will be concentrated in higher-risk occupations. 

That’s according to an analysis from the National Economic and Social Council, authored by Dr Cathal FitzGerald, which develops new categorisations of sectors based on incomes and risk, identifying four categories — high income, low risk; high income, high risk; low income, low risk; and low income, high risk. 

The paper shows 670,000 workers in ICT, financial and professional services, and wider industry with average annual incomes of around €55,200 and finds that these have a low risk score for Covid-19 of 11.  

On the other hand, 902,000 workers in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and other valuable services earn an average of €29,300 per year. Their Covid-19 infection risk score is more than 500% higher, at 58.

The report states that, contrary to the popular catchphrase, we are not all in this together. It is those on the lowest wages who have to travel to work, whether it is to clean, to provide health and social care, to work in food processing factories, or to work in supermarkets. Their work, by its very nature, brings them into close contact with others, making them most likely to be at risk from transmission.

In Association with

Fitzgerald commented: “In Ireland there are around 864,000 (37% of all workers) in occupations that require very close physical proximity to other people, including occupations that could be viewed as more vulnerable, such as barbers/hairstylists and food and beverage preparation and serving. 

“During the crisis and perhaps for a period after, consideration of contact-intensity could cast previously good jobs in a poorer light.  Occupations previously considered good jobs (e.g. dentists, teachers, pharmacy technicians) are at higher risk of infection. 

“Occupations associated with platform work such as graphic and web designers, marketing and sales, business services (finance, sales, strategy, HR, accounting), software development, architects, media, and writing and content provision, are also occupations with low contact-intensity and lower Covid-19 risk scores.”

The paper points out that most jobs now regarded as essential or ‘front-line’ fall into the high-risk, low-pay category and are also not amenable to remote working. 

Good Jobs

Fitzgerald added: “Regardless of how long the effect lasts, the most immediately obvious impact from the crisis is that it has made good jobs better and more valuable to the worker, and poor jobs worse but more valuable to society. “Therefore, society needs to have very practical and detailed discussion about good jobs, what a good jobs economy means, and about what levers are available to policymakers to promote them.”

The analysis concludes:

• The pandemic has brought attention again to the negative aspects of poor jobs: low incomes; inadequate incomes, hours, benefits, pensions, representation; and contractual insecurity. Considerable uncertainty and debate remain regarding the extent of precarious work in Ireland, as to whether there is an inevitable trend away from good jobs, and what the State can and should do. Research is underway in NESC on this, considering the future of the social welfare system in relation to participation and protection.
• The pandemic has added new criteria with which to assess job quality: the contact-intensity of the job/risk of infection, the essential nature (or otherwise) of the role, and the ability to work remotely. Of these new criteria, it is likely that the ability to do a job remotely will persist as an important consideration after the crisis has ended.
• The pandemic has revealed the true value to society of lower income, higher risk jobs in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and other services. The current misalignment needs careful consideration. Employers and policy-makers must act to transform these ‘precarious/low paid, but now essential’ jobs into ‘good jobs’. 

“Covid-19 has made good jobs better and more valuable to the worker; and made poor jobs worse, yet more valuable to society. This has consequences for workers, employers, and policymakers,” Fitzgerald stated.

The full report is available here.