The pandemic was a phenomenon that the world hadn’t faced in recent history, so it caused substantial economic uncertainty globally. However, some industries boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic due to circumstances providing a heightened demand for their products and services.
Remote working software
The necessity of working from home allowed the rise of more sophisticated and streamlined communication technologies. Video conferencing in particular has become the norm. The ability to see and speak to your colleagues in real-time makes remote working easier and allows workers to be as productive as they would be in the office.
As such, software developers are in higher demand than in the pre-pandemic years. Due to this demand, salaries for this role have skyrocketed, with experienced professionals in large cities taking home up to $180,000.
Private aviation
Before the pandemic hit, private jet ownership and usage was something that was mainly thought of for the top tier of the elite in society, but this luxury became more of a necessity. Research from WingXshows that since the pandemic, private jet rental now accounts for around a quarter of flights in the US, almost double that of pre-pandemic levels. What’s more, private aviation was known to have experienced a faster recovery than many other industries.
As well as keeping passengers safe, there is a great level of convenience that comes with flying privately and post-COVID-19, the wealthier societies have continued to take advantage of the luxury.
Pharmaceuticals and healthcare
Medicine is full of innovation and responses to new technology and findings, and this was apparent during the pandemic. With unrivaled demands on both healthcare settings and the researchers behind the scenes, the sector was under immense pressure and is still dealing with the fallout today.
The manufacturers of the vaccines have undoubtedly made a profit during this time, but they have also advanced the medical knowledge field in ways that may not have been foreseen without a global pandemic.
E-Learning
Workplaces weren’t the only places that ended up abandoned; schools were victims of their students having to learn from home. Similarly to the workforce, this was a new and unique challenge for educators.
Many of their lectures and lessons could be reformatted into online sessions as there was readily available technology. This was a different experience for educators as many hadn’t had the chance to use sites such as Google Classroom and Seesaw. As well as educators, many parents had to try their hand at home education for their children.
Whilst schools may be back in the classroom, experts predict that remote learning is here to stay with an expected increase in online enrolments in higher education.
Contactless technology
It may seem like a small change, but the way we pay for things has shifted both during and since the pandemic. The worldwide contactless payments market size is expected to grow from $10.3 billion in 2020 to $18 billion in the next five years, marking a huge shift in the number of people using the technology.
Card payments have already surpassed the number of cash payments, and the pandemic compounded this as it is easier to simply tap or swipe your card than hand over money that has potentially got germs on it.
The industries highlighted above are, of course, in no way justifying the event of the global pandemic. What it does show, however,is the drastic surge in demand for technologies, some of which were fast-tracked to global proliferation, with pharmaceuticals and remote-working softwaresbeing of particular prominence. It can be argued that COVID-19 forced us to enhance our adaptability to uncertain circumstances and the fact that such industries have continued to thrive post-pandemic indicates that these industries have a continued demand in the everyday lives of societies the world over.
