Greater Inclusion is a Win-Win Strategy for the Recovery
"There is one part of COVID-19’s impact, however, that is less visible but no less pernicious: widening inequality. Many Canadians have had to cut back on their hours of work since the pandemic hit, and many others lost their jobs altogether. But underneath the appearance that we are all in this together, the reality has been some types of workers have been affected much more adversely than others. Those hardest hit include younger workers, those earning lower incomes, those less securely employed, recent immigrants, workers who are racialized, Indigenous workers, and workers with disabilities."
"The numbers from our recent survey are stark. Most high-income earners have seen no change to their earnings during the pandemic, while most low-income earners are bringing home even less than they were before. ... Those working in sales and service jobs are five times more likely than professionals and executives to have lost their job without finding another one. In the case of Indigenous workers, they are 2 1/2 times more likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to have become unemployed. Recent immigrants, and immigrants who are racialized, are among those more likely to have seen a drop in earnings due to the pandemic."
"Certainly, the lifting of restrictions and the re-opening of businesses will help everyone, rich and poor alike. But those hardest hit by the pandemic will not be jumping back in where they left off. They will be starting even further behind than they were before. The gaps between higher and lower earners, between those with more and less work experience, and between those more and less accepted in the workplace will have widened."
First Policy Response, June 10, 2021: "Greater inclusion is a win-win strategy for the recovery," by Pedro Barata, Wendy Cukier, and Andrew Parkin
Environics Institute, May 14, 2021: Widening Inequality: Effects of the Pandemic on Jobs and Income, (32 pages, PDF)
Statistics Canada, June 15, 2021: A statistical portrait of Canada's diverse LGBTQ2+ communities, (3 pages, PDF)
Urban Institute, May 20, 2021: Inclusive Apprenticeship: A Summary of What We Know about Apprentices with Disabilities, by Daniel Kuehn, John Marotta, Bhavani Arabandi, Batia Katz (54 pages, PDF)
Photo Source: Sade, Kate. (2019). Empty black chairs at cubicles [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/2zZp12ChxhU














