Is ANYONE's job security?

[Scallywag]

Who is likely to have a job when all of "this" is over? I am getting anxious. How do we determine who is essential when even grocery stores are closing / going bust?

[kork13]

You're welcome to see your nearest recruiter -- the military's always hiring, and the job is secure for as long as we have foreign rivals. I also haven't heard much (anything) about grocery stores failing -- if anything, they're largely having great sales volume & are hiring extra workers... so I'm surprised to hear of it (unless it's a one-off store that was already struggling).

Honestly, it's sounding like many folks will only need to hold their breath for the next few weeks, when it sounds like progressive normalization will begin in some places around the country.... seeing a few articles that some states are reporting themselves ready to start to incrementally reduce restrictions in line with Trump's 1 May goal, and others (namely the west coast & NE coalitions) are also starting talks about coordinated regional reopenings (for ex: the NYC metro area to include northeast NJ & southwest CT all adopting the same standards)

[james.hendrickson]

Costco increased their dividend. Too bad I only had a couple of shares.

[Smallsteps]

I think there were some smaller regional grocery groups that announced closing right before this situation.
I also heard that some stores for example liquor stores started selling just enough food items to stay essential in some areas and some restaurants / caterers turning into a type of store with prepared ready to go heat and eat meals. There are some opportunities if you think out of the box.

I certainly hope many states chose to open up for business soon........ some areas in my state simply should have never been shut down since the real problem was only in a specific area.
The more states that move will push those dragging their heels into action.

I still see speeches thinking this is forever..... the Governor of Washington has already started talking about not having school open in September since he closed for the rest of the school year this year. .... I mean come on with how this has progressed and changed and he somehow has a crystal ball into September?
I honestly think that west coast state pack want this to go on forever California governor said there would most likely not be sports OR gatherings of any sort until 2022.

Everyday I see more and more online school choices that if they sign up it the money for that student goes to online school and out of local districts.
Perhaps by September enough would sign up for online choice that local schools can lay off teachers .... so I would imagine there are more IT jobs for online providers of services.

[myrdale]

even grocery stores are closing / going bust?

I don't know where you live, but the grocery stores around here are going gang busters. Kroger is running adds on the radio for hiring. Other stores, The HomeDepot has a giant banner out front saying they are hiring. Walking though Walmart last week I pasted a group of about 10 presumably new hires being trained on a fire extinguisher.

[disneysteve]

even grocery stores are closing / going bust?

Closing? Grocery stores are probably the biggest winners in this whole mess. Record sales, like blowing away old records. Hiring like crazy.

I think it will take a long time to get back to the previous norm in many ways. We need an accurate and readily accessible test and, ultimately, we need an effective vaccine.

Liquor stores are the other big winners. Sales up 250% and more. They can hardly keep up with demand.

[ua_guy]

Closing? Grocery stores are probably the biggest winners in this whole mess. Record sales, like blowing away old records. Hiring like crazy.

I think it will take a long time to get back to the previous norm in many ways. We need an accurate and readily accessible test and, ultimately, we need an effective vaccine.

Liquor stores are the other big winners. Sales up 250% and more. They can hardly keep up with demand.

Yes. Grocery and basic goods type retailers have seen many thanksgiving/holiday and black-friday type revenue events since this began, effectively making the entire year for them already. For some of the mixed retailers like Walmart, Target who carry both food and goods, they are also doing well *even though* goods has dropped off, food is still way up. Food is lower margin, but big grocery and sections of big retail are doing *just* fine.

[bjl584]

So far we are holding our own where I work.
I expect to keep working through all this.
But, things are changing by the minute, so who really knows.

[disneysteve]

So far we are holding our own where I work.
I expect to keep working through all this.
But, things are changing by the minute, so who really knows.

Yep.

As we've mentioned in other threads, there is a growing number of layoffs in the healthcare realm. A lot of it is middle managers and administrators who are pretty worthless in the best of times and completely useless in bad times. I hope a lot of those jobs never come back as healthcare organizations try to run leaner and make up for lost profits.

However, a lot of clinical staff has also been furloughed. A friend of mine who is an ER PA was furloughed yesterday from an area hospital. Even though the hospital is packed with COVID patients, ER volume is off 50% or more. It's kind of a silver lining of the pandemic but general illnesses and especially trauma cases are down dramatically. Car accidents, sports injuries, falls, shootings, stabbings, all of that is almost non-existent so they had to trim the ER staff.

At our urgent care, so far we've still just had 2 sites shut down (we have 8 total) and that was primarily done to keep our occupational health operation separate from the urgent care stuff. Usually they share 4 of our facilities. Now we're doing 2 just OH and 6 just UC. Other than that no cut backs, reduced hours, or lay offs.

[~bs]

Grocery is doing ok. I wouldn't say they're doing super great with everything going on. Selling a lot of essentials, but not on all products. Also, a lot of the distancing, etc is leading to reduced hours and customer limits in the stores. I'd say they're just not hurting as badly as everyone else.

No industry is probably safe, except for emergency services such as police and fire.

[greenskeeper]

I’m at 150% employment (long term care facility) on top of 4% across the board pay increase during the Chinese virus

[Scallywag]

Folks, you are thinking of Safeway / Aldi's / Lucky's etc.

I am talking of small Mom & Pop corner grocery stores, sandwich & donut shops, small farms that supply local farmers' markets (no one to pick produce etc). Small businesses already running on slim margins and now struggling.

It's a blood bath.

[~bs]

small mom and pops have an advantage in that there's low rent and over head. They're owners so mainly pay themselves and not other worker salary and benefits. I know some small restaurant establishments doing takeout that are doing ok during this crisis.

[Scallywag]

small mom and pops have an advantage in that there's low rent and over head. They're owners so mainly pay themselves and not other worker salary and benefits. I know some small restaurant establishments doing takeout that are doing ok during this crisis.

Nope, they have rent to pay & they have laid workers off.

[~bs]

Nope, they have rent to pay & they have laid workers off.

Depends on the situation.