The Implication of Coronavirus on the Blue-Collar/Labour Industry

Coronavirus is creating a massive amount of panic among Australians and across the world. Since December, the flu-like illness has spread from Wuhan – a Chinese province, infecting more than 200000 people worldwide.

Coronavirus has been declared as a pandemic by WHO and is officially known as COVID-19. It’s spreading fast. globally and has sparked panic worldwide. Social distancing, loss of a job, and income are just a few scary realities the world is facing. Coronavirus is causing job loss, and the businesses are suffering.

Factories are shut, and millions of people are banned from travelling. This slowdown is going to affect the lives of too many people, especially those who rely on income but have no savings or assets.

In Australia, this has resulted in panic buying of emergency supplies and other non-perishable items. People fighting over toilet paper rolls is baffling and most industries like travel and tourism, hospitality, construction, real estate has been brutally affected.

Out of all the industries that are suffering, one that is the mostvulnerable is the labour industry or blue-collar industry. COVID-19 is causing thousands of Australian tradiesto lose their jobs.

This is happening because people are quarantined, and they want to keep a goodsocial distance. The demand for tradies like plumbers, electricians and builders has become very low. Also the scarcity of supplies that comes from China, is creating more problems for our tradies.

Australia is reliant on China for both exports and imports and the coronavirus outbreak in China has affected the Australian economy inquite a scary way.

Almost 9% of the labour force are involved in construction, and due to the shortage of building materials from China, they could be laid off amid the coronavirus epidemic. The lack of raw materials has also caused adelay inthe completion of many construction projects.

Most of the factories are facing scarce raw materials since the time of the Chinese New Year.Then it was followed by the coronavirus outbreak, so the closing period of factories has extended and now no one knows when they will start up again.

The tradies are facing the problem of scarcity of materials from small things like a screw to significant things like roofing materials. Everyone is dealing with shortages, and it is getting worse day by day as China is one of Australia’s largest trading partners.

Coronavirus is potentially damaging the blue-collar industry as a whole. There is already an imbalance between the demand and the supply of services and products.

But there is no need to panic, and we shall get through all of these things that are happening around us. With a few measures, you can protect yourself from this deadly virus. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, stay at home, and take care of yourself.  These measures will help blunt the impact of the COVID-19.