Considerations for Vocational Assessments in the Era of COVID-19

The year 2020 was unprecedented for many reasons. Few events during the past century have been mm·e novel and far-reaching than the emergence and rapid spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This pandemic has resulted in significant changes in the ways we socialize, work, and communicate. It has also created economic strain in many sectors and, by extension, reshaped and reconfigured the workplace. Many employers have drastically altered their operations; some have been forced out of business. With mass COVID-19 vaccinations underway, there remain many questions about the long-term implications of the global pandemic. The authors examined data from the pandemic of 1918, the impacts of economic recessions, and contemporary data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in an attempt to extrapolate implications for future vocational analyses.