Bill Dawson: Retail landscape reminds him of the late 70s

To The Daily Sun,

As distance learning continues to be a way of life in this school year, the moms of school-aged children have found it necessary to remove themselves from the workplace.  When the COVID-19 concerns subside and schools resume in person, will the moms return to their jobs? That depends on several factors. Chief among the conditions limiting their return is that there appears to be an increasing number of small and medium-sized businesses that have failed or had their market share greatly reduced. Many service jobs held by women before COVID-19 have migrated to the internet mode in an effort to survive. Two of my daughters were lucky enough to already be working online and continue to do so.

Companies selling products were already shifting to a catalog/internet/mail operating model before the pandemic. For many, it wasn’t voluntary. Amazon was forcing the issue. Virtual jobs are out there, but the pay is not what many workers were making before all this happened and moms had to make a choice. Keep the job or care for the kids; a hard but necessary decision for the family unit. Suddenly they were adding another skill to their basket, adjunct supervisor of the children finding their way through the virtual learning model. Some found they were good at it and enjoyed doing it, others were not so comfortable or adept.

Malls and outlets are closing because their parent companies are finding they can move more products to the customer through Amazon or other marketing giants.  What is happening now is similar to what happened in the late 70s. Big Box stores began anchoring malls. You could find everything from toilet paper to tools under one roof.  Price points were lower because the store paid lower wages, was non-union, and were seeking to put smaller, single product stores out of business. They did what they set out to do; sell cheap and kill the competition.

I think the reentry of the moms into the “new” job market has already begun. It will require some help if we are to get them off unemployment. A combined effort by the employers and the employment security offices using federal funds to provide job training is, I think a must.

Here is a list of skills that the job market is looking for:

1.  Keyboard skills and a home office set-up with computer, modem, and a phone interface.
2. The ability to do the skills above with speed and accuracy.
3. Comprehensive knowledge of the product or service being provided.
4. A commitment to providing a level of output agreed to when hired.

Today’s job market is not for the lazy and incompetent. If you can’t fit the model, don’t apply. That said, companies will need help with the mentoring process. Returning to full production will involve on-the-job training and perhaps some courses in computer science. Money in the form of good wages would help the process along, of course.

Bill Dawson
Northfield