Green, Simard-duplain, Siu – In-person K-12 Schooling Is Essential To The Canadian Economy
From: David A. Green, Gaëlle Simard-Duplain, and Henry E. Siu To: Policymakers across Canada Date: January 27, 2021 Re: In-Person K-12 Schooling is Essential to the Canadian Economy The extent to which K-12 schools should remain open remains at the forefront of discussions on long-term pandemic management. Transmission and infection rates among children are lower than for adults. At […] How much has the COVID-19 pandemic damaged the economy? – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Along with much of the world, Canada’s economy has suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic and other events in 2020, notably the shock to global oil markets. How badly? An examination of the immediate data and longer trends indicates significant damage, with a lengthy recovery period ahead.
Let’s start with labour markets, where there are signs of recovery but also growing evidence of damage. The unemployment rate exploded to nearly 14 per cent from 6 per cent during the shutdown from March to May. The rate has dropped steadily since as many displaced workers have been re-engaged, but the second pandemic wave and renewed shutdowns in many provinces have meant more job losses. Employment fell by 63,000 in December, and…
William B.P. Robson – Let’s Drop The ‘We Can’t Go Back’ Post-covid Fantasies
From: William B.P. Robson To: Canadians Contemplating 2021 Date: January 5, 2021 Re: Let’s Drop the ‘We Can’t Go Back’ Post-COVID Fantasies Of all the COVID-inspired clichés of 2020, “we can’t go back to how we were before” gets my vote for most trying. Taken literally, it is empty. We can’t undo the deaths, restore students’ lost instruction, […] 2020 Hindsight – William Robson: Our Year Of Magical Thinking – Financial Post Op-ed
Of all the COVID-inspired clichés of 2020, “we can’t go back to how we were before” gets my vote for most trying.
Taken literally, it is empty. We can’t undo the deaths, restore students’ lost instruction, give young people the first jobs they didn’t get, erase the huge debts, enjoy the travel and human contact that didn’t happen. No, we can’t go back to 2019 — which is too bad.
Taken as an exhortation — “we shouldn’t go back to how we were before” — it is too often a prelude to magical thinking, a great leap to some environmental, economic or political nirvana previously out of reach. That is silly. A sick person who was never an athlete can dream of completing a triathlon. But their first task is to recover. In the same…
La prochaine vague : Le marché du travail canadien face à l’automatisation
Les groupes démographiques clés occupent des emplois plus vulnérables à l’automatisation Les principaux groupes démographiques sont plus vulnérables que la moyenne à la perte d’emplois par l’automatisation. L’auteure Rosalie Wyonch évalue l’impact probable de l’automatisation technologique sur le marché du travail canadien et compare ces résultats aux prévisions antérieures. Elle trouve une proportion d’emplois à […] The Next Wave: Automation and Canada’s Labour Market
Key Demographic Groups in Jobs more Vulnerable to Automation Key demographic groups are more vulnerable to job loss through automation than average. Author Rosalie Wyonch assesses the likely impact of technological automation on Canada’s labour market and compares these results to past predictions. She finds a lower proportion of employment at high risk of automation […] David Gray – What Does The Pandemic Teach Us About Ei?
From: David Gray To: The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Date: November 23, 2020 Re: What Does the Pandemic Teach us about EI? The COVID-19 pandemic brought labour market conditions to Depression-era levels during the months of April and May, and as of October, the unemployment rate of 8.9 […] Climbing Out of COVID
New C.D. Howe Institute Book Chronicles COVID-19 Policy Insights A new book from the C.D. Howe Institute provides an overview of the Institute’s critical policy recommendations made in response to the developing COVID-19 pandemic. “Climbing Out of COVID” compiles communiqués from the Institute’s Crisis Working Groups, as well as Intelligence Memos and op-eds, published up […] Boessenkool, Zon – Are We Doing Enough To Help Parents Weather The Covid Storm?
From: Ken Boessenkool and Noah Zon To: Federal and Provincial Ministers of Finance and Labour Date: November 4, 2020 Re: Are We Doing Enough to Help Parents Weather the COVID Storm? The current crisis has had an outsized impact on women with young children. While men with young children have largely recovered their hours of […] Parisa Mahboubi – Let’s Modernize To Protect Canada’s Growing Gig Economy
From: Parisa Mahboubi To: Canadian Ministers of Employment and Labour Date: October 21, 2020 Re: Let’s modernize to protect Canada’s growing gig economy The so-called gig economy and platform work have been growing globally and in Canada ever since the 2008-09 recession, driven by technological and economic changes and the desire for greater flexibility by workers and employers. […] 1.3m Canadians Out Of Work For More Than 6 Months
In Tammy Schirle and Mikal Skuterud’s latest Intelligence Memo, the authors highlighted an unprecedented increase in long-term joblessness. The accompanying graph shows the number of Canadians jobless for more than six months increased by 107 percent between March and September, far exceeding the peak increase of 37 percent over the same length of time in the 2008 financial […] Schirle, Skuterud – Long-term Joblessness: A Significant Policy Challenge On The Horizon?
From: Tammy Schirle and Mikal Skuterud To: Canadians Concerned about the Labour Market Date: October 20, 2020 Re: Long-term joblessness: a significant policy challenge on the horizon? Between March and September 2020, the number of Canadians who have been jobless for more than six months increased by 107 percent, far exceeding the peak increase of 37 percent over […]