As we try to get back to “normal” following the Covid pandemic, it’s apparent that some things have changed for good.

One industry facing a reckoning involves business travel. Ask consultants and they will explain that business and margins boomed in 2020 as they were able to dramatically reduce travel, which lowered those expenses for clients, who plowed those savings back into billable hours for the consultants. The clients got more value for their money, while consultants made more. So there’s no incentive on either side to get back to “normal.”

That’s just one industry. Of course, there will be an appetite to get back to in-person contact. Conferences in particular should see lots of interest as networking doesn’t translate as well to Zoom calls and virtual conferences.

But, as explained in this post, businesses are starting to rethink what qualifies as “necessary travel.” This could have a huge impact on the travel and hotel industries and related jobs.

This video is another example of the student debt crisis we face in this country.

One fundamental issue is that we’ve created an incentive structure to push students into borrowing money in order to get an education. The rational decision would be to pick an affordable school, but those options are limited. The college experience is so ingrained in our culture that many families want that for their children.

Also, we have young people making bad financial decisions, and too many parents aren’t helping. You shouldn’t take out a big student loan to go to a small, private college if you can pay much less at a state school. Also, if you’re going into a field with little earning power, this decision is even more important.

This video also discusses the Debt Collective, which was born out of the Occupy Wall Street movement and helps people dispute debts with a goal of cancelling their loans. It currently has over 700 people who are planning to never repay their loans.

This article gets into which jobs have been lost due to the Coronavirus by sector, and not surprisingly the Leisure and Hospitality sector leads the way. It’s hard to imagine these types of jobs coming back soon as many people will be afraid to travel and congregate until a vaccine is available.

The other challenge will be slower economic activity in general. Jobs tied to consumer spending will have trouble rebounding if the overall economy is still in recession.

How soon will workplaces return to normal? In many cases, will there be a new normal?

Not surprisingly, the answers will vary sector-to-sector and business-to-business.

Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins said the following: “I think you’ll see many employees that will continue to work from home, you’ll have many that will get back to the office and then you’ll have some that’ll do a little bit of both.”

Companies that navigate this successfully will have a huge advantage over companies who don’t adapt, and this can lead to greater productivity and also reduce overhead costs such as expensive office space in the future.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell threw some cold water on the notion of a quick snap-back for the economy and job markets in the wake of the Coronavirus. He argued that policymakers may have to use additional weapons to pull the country out of a crisis that has cost at least 20 million jobs and caused “a level of pain that is hard to capture in words.”

This doesn’t bode well for many sectors like travel and dining and will make it very difficult for jobs to come back quickly.