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. 2023 Jan 20;18(1):e0278237.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278237. eCollection 2023.

COVID-19, jobs and skills-Exploratory analysis of the job postings in the US and UK healthcare job market

Himanshu Upadhyay  1 , Mecit Can Emre Simsekler  1 , Maher Maalouf  1 , Siddiq Anwar  2 , Mohammed Omar  1
Affiliations

COVID-19, jobs and skills-Exploratory analysis of the job postings in the US and UK healthcare job market

Himanshu Upadhyay et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected all spheres of life, including the healthcare workforce. While the COVID-19 pandemic has started driving organizational and societal shifts, it is vital for healthcare organizations and decision-makers to analyze patterns in the changing workforce. In this study, we aim to identify patterns in healthcare job postings during the pandemic to understand which jobs and associated skills are trending after the advent of COVID-19. Content analysis of job postings was conducted using data-driven approaches over two-time intervals in the pandemic. The proposed framework utilizes Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for topic modeling to evaluate the patterns in job postings in the US and the UK. The most demanded jobs, skills and tasks for the US job postings are presented based on job posting data from popular job posting websites. This is obtained by mapping the job postings to the jobs, skills and tasks defined in the O*NET database for the healthcare occupations in the US. The topic modeling results clearly show increased hiring for telehealth services in both the US and UK. This study also presents an increase in demand for specific occupations and skills in the USA healthcare industry. The results and methods used in the study can help monitor rapid changes in the job market due to pandemics and guide decision-makers to make organizational shifts in a timely manner.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Coherence score for US job posting data.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Coherence score for UK job posting data.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Schematic representation of the methodology used for topic modeling.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Schematic representation of the methodology used for Approach 1.
Fig 5
Fig 5. US topic modeling results (Period 1).
Fig 6
Fig 6. UK topic modeling results (Period 1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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