Top 8 Jobs Salaries Tend to Be Withheld during the Coronavirus

A lot of industries are severely impacted by Coronavirus and this directly affects the employment market. By the end of April 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has reduced two-thirds of the industries. 30 percent of jobs that are used to bring salaries now face the dilemma of wage suspension.

Wage suspension, or wage withheld, is the pause of paying wages to an employee for a period of time while the employee is still in the status of being hired by the company. Wage suspension happens when the employees make mistakes during work, when the company lacks money to pay for employment and when special events like the coronavirus pandemic happen.

As we know that the whole economy of the United States is greatly affected by the pandemic, what jobs are in the most severe situation of getting a wage suspension?

1. Workers in the Heavy Production Industry

The first industry most affected is the heavy production industry. In heavy production industries, due to the gathering-prohibition, production work is forced to be suspended for months and No production means, no profits for entrepreneurs. In this way, the whole company doesn’t have revenue taking in as well. With no income, the company is unable to pay salaries for zero hours of working. Therefore, it is more likely that the company will implement wage suspension on these workers who are forced to stay at home.

2. Employees Working for the Education Institutions

Another type of industry in which employees may get their wages withheld is the education industry. Education institutions are also forced to close during the COVID-19 outbreak. The only way for the education institutions to receive revenues is through online courses. However, with no occupation of any actual classroom, since a small-size class that is used to involve ten students now is open to a hundred students—so the teacher only needs to lecture the content once and earn the tuition fee from a hundred students.

With this education mode, education businesses are likely to reduce demand for as much employees as before. Nonetheless, considering the potential increase in demand for employees after the pandemic is over, the education companies tend more to choose to have some employees' wages suspended rather than directly expelling them. In this way, these employees could, later on, keep working for the education company.

3. Flight attendants in the Airline Industry

A third industry affected the most by the coronavirus is the airline industry. The epidemic this time pushed the US government to impose restrictions and even prohibitions of international airlines. As airline services are restricted, fewer tickets are sold, and a lot of airline companies often face zero or even negative profit. Thus, these companies no longer need so many airplane pilots and flight services. The airline pilots and flight attendances are granted—as a matter of fact, forced—an extra months-long vacation. As airline companies are facing a serious financial crisis and no longer have the capacity to pay for these employees who are not working, these companies are likely to have the wages of these staffs withheld.

4. Fitness Trainers/ Coaches in the Gym

Another field that had suffered a lot of damage is the physical fitness industry. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of fitness gyms are forced to close. Plus, the overall living standard of citizens decreases. This means some of them who used to be willing and able to spend money on physical exercises now choose not to do body training in the gym. Instead, they prefer doing it at home for free or even not doing it. As a result, the fitness instructors working for the gyms have no business to do anymore. In consequence, they get no income.

5. Staffs in the Hypostatic Shops

In the same way, the staffs working for other hypostatic shops encounter similar trouble. Since the hypostatic shops are mandated to close, a lot of companies that are bereft of income have to withhold the wages of staff to make the companies themselves survive this global crisis. The staffs stay at home and no longer receive payment.

6. Staffs Serving in the Entertainment Industry

With the dissemination of this epidemic, a lot of industries in the entertainment sector sink into a stagnant position. These employments include staffs in charge of movie projection and ticket examination, staffs serving in the hotel industry, and guides working for places that used to be favored by visitors. All these kinds of staffs are facing the challenge of wage suspension.

7. Taxi Drivers

The salary of taxi drivers is also likely to be withheld. As the majority of citizens no longer go out, there is barely any passenger on the street willing to pay for a taxi and get a ride. Taxi companies have no revenue to make from taxi services, so they may cease paying salaries for taxi drivers.

8. Stock Market Operators

A particular market that is also in trouble due to the pandemic is the stock market. In March 2020, the US stock triggered the circuit breaker mechanism. The magnates in the US stock market now fall into a situation of bankruptcy. The operators who used to receive dividends now have all their money leaked in this stock market crisis. Some of these operators who are hired by the huge stock market manipulation companies are now likely to uptake a wage suspension.

When wages are suspended, it often means no income, and thus a decreased standard of living. If a person has no savings, then he/she may face some financial problems. What you should do now is to check whether your working field is included in the list above and if you are facing the salary suspension, you may send a proposal to your employer to ask for a reasonable wage in a polite manner. If it doesn’t work, you may need to adjust your attitude: probably consider accept the situation and regard this period as a break or a vacation. At the same time, try to find other part-time jobs and work from home to get an income even if it's low.