(Newswire.net — July 15, 2021) — The last year was very challenging for every country all over the world. Not anyone would anticipate that the world would be hit by the global pandemic and every industry would be stopped or digitized. People were stuck at home and the economy was collapsing, this is why a lot of countries are now in an economic crisis. Surprisingly or not, not even economic giants were able to hinder the job shortage or inflation rate. In this case, Canada is not an exception as well.
Covid Impact on Canadian Economy
The COVID-19 epidemic had a significant economic effect on Canada, causing it to enter a recession. The country’s economic growth was hampered by the governments’ social distancing policies. Companies had to contemplate job cuts, which were mostly avoided thanks to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Despite these measures, Canada’s unemployment rate in May 2020 was 13.5 percent, the highest during the last 40 years. Many large-scale activities scheduled for 2020 in Canada have been canceled or postponed. The big athletic and musical competitions are included. Travel sanctions wreaked havoc on Canada’s tourism and air travel industries. Many farmers went bankrupt because they were afraid of a labor shortage.
The COVID-19 had an effect on customer behavior. Over the early days of the pandemic, large-scale panic shopping occurred in Canadian grocery stores, resulting in many vacant shelves. With the exception of convenience stores and hospitals, which enforced strict social distancing laws in their establishments, most stores were closed to walk-in buyers by the end of March. As other Canadian companies started to reopen in the following months, these laws were also enforced.
Current situation
The Canadian economy added more than 300,000 jobs in March, beating forecasts once again and keeping the labor market on track to recoup all of the jobs lost a year earlier, well before the federal budget, which promises billions in stimulus spending, is released. In total, Statistics Canada reported that the economy gained 303,000 jobs in March as controls were lifted, allowing more employees to return to high-touch industries that had been struck hardest by public health restrictions.
Retail employment increased by 95,000 workers, the lodging and food services industry increased by 21,000 jobs while employment in health care, building, and school programs also saw significant improvements. The last benefit was caused by Ontario, which led the nation in job growth, pushing its March school breaks to the following week in an effort to delay the spread of COVID-19.
Overall employment is now 296,000 jobs lower than it was pre-COVID in February 2020, a deficit of 1.5 percent. Due to the fact that a lot of people were stuck at home and a lot of businesses were closed because it was impossible to operate online, many people were left without jobs and had to find an alternative for that. This is the time when the demand on the financial market was massively grown, people were hoping for easier and a lot more income, and the demand for the Forex brokers in Canada was massively increased. The unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in March, down from 8.2 percent in February, bringing it to a post-pandemic low. If Canadians who wished to work but didn’t look for work were counted in the calculations, the unemployment rate would have been 9.7% in March, according to Statistics Canada. With March’s gains, there are almost as many industries with jobs above February 2020 levels as there are currently below, according to BMO chief economist Douglas Porter, who also noted that overall employment outside of hotels and restaurants is at an all-time high.
However, as prohibitions tighten, as they have during the pandemic, the momentum will fade in April, according to Brendon Bernard, an economist with a job-posting platform. However, as prohibitions tighten, as they have during the pandemic, the momentum will fade in April, according to Brendon Bernard, an economist with a job-posting platform.
Closing the remaining deficit by the end of the year, as the parliamentary budget officer proposed, would not be as minor or straightforward a challenge as the 1.5 percent gap indicates, according to a Labour economist. Food services, for example, is now 24.4 percent below pre-pandemic peaks, or 298,000 jobs – the largest gap in any industry. “It’s entirely a competition between the vaccine as well as the virus.”
The Liberals vowed to generate one million jobs in the fall, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that the April 19 budget would detail plans to do so. In light of the strengthened labor market and economy, the government has to reconsider how much it will invest from a promised $70 billion to $100 billion in stimulus over three years, as well as what it will spend it on, according to Robert Asselin, senior vice-president policy at the Business Council of Canada.
Trudeau praised the March employment figures but noted that there are too many Canadians who are unemployed or working part-time. Despite dramatic decreases in February and March, Statistics Canada reported that the number of unemployed people stood at 1.5 million, or 371,000 more than in February 2020.
Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Council, believes the government will detail a skills-training program in the budget to assist teachers and those who might be unemployed in the coming years in finding employment. In this region, there will still be a need for a flexible workforce that can respond to changing economic conditions, meaning the need for developing a green economy.
Summing It Up
Finally, to sum up, we can boldly say that all the countries appeared to be affected by the influence and spread of the global covid pandemic. Not a single continent was left without the cases and big countries and economies were having more trouble stopping the spread of the virus. The pandemic showed people all over the world the power of technologies and digitalization as we all had to do everything from home, online, without going out. Canada, due to its population and movements of people, it was difficult to hinder the spread of the virus, and the job shortage in the country had a bad effect on the economy. The country and the government made up the plan to recover from this economic crisis and the main economic center in the country is creating places for those who want to be working and cannot find the proper place. By the government’s plan, those people can also be used for developing the green economy in the country.