Member-only story
Covid-19 Will Have a Scarring Effect on Graduates
Navigating life and careers will be harder for the Covid cohort
Every generation will suffer at least one crisis. As individuals we will likely suffer setbacks, personal traumas, deaths in the family, and periods of unemployment that will leave us falling back on support networks or relying on government assistance.
This is unfortunately a normal part of life, but the timing of these events can matter a great deal when it comes to the impact on our career and the speed at which we can recover. A sequence of setbacks that are clumped together can severely test our resilience and make it harder to get back on top of our lives.
The past tells us that facing unemployment at the start of your career is worse than being laid off mid-career or towards the end of your working life. Those who are unlucky enough to be made jobless or who struggle to find work after university will generally end up earning less. Part of this comes down to a resulting lack of confidence, a change in habits, and the formation of beliefs about ones economic worth.
Economists refer to this as the ‘scarring effect’, and recent history bears it out. Based on the experience of those entering the workforce during the financial crisis of 2008–09, the current generation will face…
