\nArticle content<\/h2>\n \u201cWe find some disturbing trends,\u201d said Desjardins, the bank\u2019s deputy chief economist, who has been tracking the unequal nature of the COVID-19 crisis since the beginning. \u201cAs time went on, we saw some improvement in terms of women getting back into the labour market, but then the second wave hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some more numbers from the two economists\u2019 work: employment among women aged 25 and older who earn less than $800 per week has dropped 30 per cent, compared with 24 per cent for men; women represent 65 per cent of the job losses in accommodation and food services, the hardest-hit industry; and women represent only 14 per cent of the hiring that has occurred at professional and technology-based companies, one of only three categories that has added workers during the pandemic \u2014 and the one that tends to pay the highest wages.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n Canadians flush with cash will drive recovery in 2021, economists say <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n Canada won\u2019t return to pre-pandemic employment for another four years, conference board warns <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/section>\nWhat is to be done?<\/p>\n
One possibility: more of what we\u2019re already doing. That\u2019s essentially Ottawa\u2019s response so far. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on March 3 extended the emergency wage subsidy through June, and Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem made clear last week that he is committed to leaving the benchmark interest rate near zero for at least another couple of years.<\/p>\n
Governments, companies and households are piling up debt at an astounding pace, but all that money has cushioned the blow of the recession, increasing the odds of a strong recovery, albeit by raising the risk of a credit crisis at some point down the road. Ottawa\u2019s response to the pandemic has been so aggressive that disposable income actually rose during the recession, an outcome few expected at the outset of the lockdowns a year ago.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n
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This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\nArticle content<\/h2>\n To be sure, the evolution of the crisis hasn\u2019t been universally terrible for women. Royal Bank\u2019s tally shows the number of women older than 25 who earn more than $1,200 per week increased 14 per cent between February and January, compared with a six per cent increase for men.<\/p>\nThat likely has something to do with the frothy housing market, another unexpected result of Ottawa\u2019s fiscal and monetary stimulus, considering the economy contracted 5.4 per cent in 2020, the biggest collapse on record. The FIRE industry \u2014 finance, insurance and real-estate \u2014 added 62,100 women between February and January, while the number of men employed declined by 16,000.<\/p>\n
The high-pressure economic strategy that the Bank of Canada and the Finance Department are running is creating opportunities for groups of workers that are traditionally marginalized. It\u2019s the approach that Canada needed a decade ago after the Great Recession, when the recovery was frustratingly slow.<\/p>\n
But it probably won\u2019t work this time, not if one of the goals is to narrow the employment gaps between men and women. That\u2019s because the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the shift to a digital economy in which robots and algorithms will take over from humans in areas such as retail, food service and real estate, as well as various office jobs.<\/p>\nAgain, those are fields that tend to be the domain of women. A jump in long-term unemployment is a risk since relatively low-skill jobs that existed a year ago aren\u2019t ever coming back.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n
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This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\nArticle content<\/h2>\n \u201cThe economy at the end of 2021 is going to look different than it did at the end of 2019,\u201d Desjardins said. \u201cSo how do we think about these people? How do we ensure the market is there for them when they come back? Is there a transition period and how do we facilitate that?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer, according to Desjardins and Freestone, is a greater emphasis on training. They said the $1.5 billion that the federal government has promised the provinces to upgrade skills is a good start, but more will be needed.<\/p>\n
Many have observed that Canadian employers have tended to assume training was something for individuals and governments to worry about. That attitude could change. The federal government could also attach a training component to employment insurance. As Freeland likes to say: whatever it takes. Atrophy has already set in for too many people, and especially women.<\/p>\n
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