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[ANALYSIS] Pandemic, property and technology: How fast can we shift?
For sure, the commercial building sector is the one that got away.
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![[ANALYSIS] Pandemic, property and technology: How fast can we shift?](https://img.jakpost.net/c/2020/03/11/2020_03_11_88853_1583881792._large.jpg)
Oh so quiet: A mall in Senayan, Central Jakarta, is relatively empty of customers as retail businesses face the adverse effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The global epidemic is putting the resilience of Indonesia’s economy to test. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
Q
uoting Thomas L. Friedman from his worldwide bestseller Hot, Flat, and Crowded (2009), there are things we have to accept as an impact of economic development. Remember why we all accept breakfast, lunch and dinner as normal? This species did not understand what breakfast was until the first industrial revolution in the 17th century and “dinner” in the 19th century. For over two centuries, industrialization has changed our mornings and nights.
Technological advancement in telecommunications has also changed the world. It only took less than two decades before students all over the world had to shift their learning pattern: from library geeks to internet users. I was in the Netherlands several years ago to finish my master's degree, and it was then when I saw almost no one looking for a book in an astonishing library. All they need is a desk with a power plug and a Wi-Fi password.
Globalization has changed many things. A decade ago was the time when Nokia, formerly a tech giant, started to fail because of its inferiority compared to Blackberry. However, it was not long before everyone dumped their Blackberry for Apple and Google Android. Within less than a decade, a great company fell due to a lack of agility and, once again, technology.
This year, we have to fully accept the impact of the pandemic. Last quarter, our economy struggled by contracting 3.45 percent year-on-year (yoy). Yet, it was better compared to the second quarter of 2020 when the contraction reached 5.32 percent yoy.
A report from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has also shown a notable change in our employment rate structure. This August, only 63.8 percent of our labor force were full-time workers, a decrease compared to August 2019 when the proportion was 71.04 percent.
Moreover, the unemployment rate has worsened to 7.07 percent compared to only 5.23 percent last year. Without any doubt, some of our major sectors in the economy have been changing and might be reshaped for good, and we have to be ready for it.
For sure, the commercial building sector is the one that got away.
