by John Crea
As we work our way through this period of COVID-19 imposed isolation, following Governor Walz’s past stay-at-home orders for all but essential workers, we are learning a lot about how interconnected we are to each other. We have discovered that we are not only essential employees at work, so too are we essential family members at home. And judging from how quickly the economy has collapsed, we are also essential as consumers of goods and services.
The economic collapse has affected everyone, but just like the coronavirus itself, not everyone to the same degree. Retirees have not lost their income as checks from social security and pension plans continue to come in. Middle and upper-income workers have had the chance to build up contingency funds for emergencies like this. And many have not been laid off and are being allowed to work from home.
The working poor, however, live paycheck to paycheck and have no chance to build up savings for emergencies. Hell, they often have trouble setting aside enough money for their children’s school supplies, much less saving for a rainy day. Millions of these workers have lost their jobs, and support from the government in the form of unemployment checks or outright grants will be critical to get past this crisis.
That brings us to the problems faced by another group of very essential workers – small business owners. These enterprises should be setting money aside in contingency funds to take care of emergencies. But when forced by edict to close their doors, that is not an emergency they could possibly have planned for. Here again, help from the government is needed to keep small businesses afloat and able to open for business once the crisis has passed. That is critical not only for the small business owners, but for the millions of workers they will bring back on board.
The economic stress on the entire nation is palpable. But moving beyond the economic repercussions and the health perils of the COVID-19, the stay-at-home orders are giving many of us the chance to learn a few things about ourselves. Parents are not spending all day every day at work, and children are not racing from school to piano practice to soccer game. We have much more time to spend with each other, and our roles within the family have become amplified. This is especially true in three-generation households as we spend more time in caregiving roles engaged in child-rearing and elder-care activities.
We are also getting the chance to learn more about our neighbors. As the weather turns nice and with more time on our hands, we have the chance to hold conversations with neighbors beyond hi and bye, all from a safe distance of six feet apart, of course. We are learning more about them, and they about us. We may be knee-jerk liberals. They may be dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. Or vice versa. But by golly, they are still good people and we are happy to have them as neighbors. (They are just misguided, I guess.)
The chance for social bonding, despite social distancing, extends beyond our immediate neighborhood. When we make our needed trips to the grocery store and we see others wearing face masks, we feel a social kinship. Even those who are not wearing a mask seem to be trying to keep some distance apart. The coronavirus is a common enemy, one that respects no geographic borders, no political boundaries. And we are learning how wonderfully interdependent we are on each other.
There is one more positive outcome within this difficult situation, a beneficial side-effect of the disease, if you will. As bad as the slow-down is for the economy, it is good for the environment! Fewer commutes to work. Less emission from factory smokestacks. We see evidence of cleaner air after just a few months of decreased economic activity.
But that does not mean we want to live with this damned disease any longer than we must, and we are all hopeful that a vaccine for the virus is developed as quickly as possible.
As the pandemic releases its grip and we are “allowed” to go back to work, I hope we do not forget all those beneficial side-effects. Lessons of the importance of family, of neighbors, and of social connectedness. I recommend that we reprioritize the role of working in our lives, that we spend less time at work, and more time at home with our families and our neighbors. And, in these days of automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence, there is no reason why this is not possible.
John Crea is a grandpa (4), father (3), and husband (1). He is the author of RECALIBRATING THE LABOR MARKET. He is a man with a mission: The standard full time job should be 24 hours/week, not 40, with hourly wages increased so the worker takes home as much after 24 hours of work as he had earned after 40. Retired and living the good life.