Employment levels at large companies have turned in a mixed performance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and are currently in a growth period that is threatened by the Delta variant.
The start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year marked a plummet in employment for nearly every company. Since then, the employment market and economy have gradually recovered.
A comparison of the Business Journal’s 2019 and 2021 lists of Private Employers ranked by number of Valley-area employees reveals that the pandemic has resulted in reductions in the workforce of some companies, while others, such as those involved in biotechnology or health care, have increased.
For example, No. 1 ranked Walt Disney Co. went from an estimated 12,000 Valley-area employees in 2019 to an estimated 11,250 in 2021. The media conglomerate’s theme park employees experienced mass layoffs during the thick of the pandemic. It recently announced the relocation of 2,000 employees from Southern California to Florida, citing the Sunshine State’s “business friendly climate.” In the health care and biotech sectors, companies such as Kaiser Permanente and Amgen Inc. added 207 employees and 358 employees, respectively. Amgen ranks No. 4 on the list of Private Employers, while Kaiser ranks No. 2.
Labor headwind According to an August employment report by Beacon Economics, an independent economic research and consulting firm, employment in the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metropolitan statistical area went from 313,600 in August 2019 to 297,300 last month, verifying local employment’s slow and steady recovery after tanking in April 2020.
“With schools reopening, we could see a surge of workers return to the labor market, easing labor shortages,” Taner Osman, Beacon’s research manager, said in the report. Osman added that the spread of the Delta variant might motivate workers to remain out of the labor force which could create a short-term headwind for labor supply.
One of the larger factors in the fluctuating employee retention rate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is the transition into remote work for several industries in the economy.
A December 2020 study from the Pew Research Center concluded that many workers would like to continue remote work even after the pandemic is over. Of 5,858 U.S. adults surveyed, 20 percent worked from home before the start of the pandemic and 54 percent said they would want to work from home after the coronavirus outbreak ends.
Labor attorney Thomas Lenz thinks that generally, employers want people to return to the traditional workplace out of fear that employees may lose interest in working for them or that their employees will pursue other opportunities.
However, Lenz said that the pandemic and the increased adoption of technology as a means of conducting or assisting business has created a period of reexamination for employees and their role with employers.
“I think on the flip side you have a workforce that is reexamining their options and employers who are facing a skill shortage in a number of different industries and having difficulty meeting their staffing needs,” Lenz said. “I think that there are going to be things about the virtual workforce and working remotely that people like.” Amgen employees In May of this year, the Moorpark Acorn reported that many employees of Thousand Oaks-based Amgen would continue remote work post-pandemic. “Amgen, which employs around 5,000 people in Ventura County, said an internal survey showed 80 percent of employees liked the idea of being able to continue working from home all or at least some of the time,” the Acorn wrote.
Remote work also poised itself as a financial boon for Amgen, which said in a shareholder call earlier this year that lower operating costs helped maintain its bottom line despite declining revenues in the pandemic.
Lenz said that employers could stand to benefit from remote work considering the decreased or diminished need for physical office space. Lenz also said that the public health issues at hand have given employees more leeway, a development that will require employers to pivot their respective workforces.
“Employers need to adjust to this changing environment if they’re going to attract and retain people,” he said. “So, safety is critical, being more nimble and flexible is important too.” Lenz added that considering the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 surges and corresponding public health measures, the employment outlook for the near future is hard to predict.
Mixed Picture for Labor; Looks Murky Ahead
