Lower-income Canadian families are the least likely to work in jobs that can be done from home, according to a new report from Statistics Canada released Monday.
Approximately 40 per cent of Canadians have been able to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the employment inequality report said. But for some, working from home is not an option.
The outbreak has brought the country to an essential standstill. Restaurants and businesses were closed, provincial parks were taped off and many Canadians have been asked to work from home in order to prevent the virus from spreading.
“Without question, the biggest difference that these shutdowns have had on the labour market is the difference between high and low wage workers and in particular between salaried and hourly-paid workers,” said Mikal Skuterud, an economics professor at the University of Waterloo.
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“These shutdowns have hit low wage workers, hourly-paid workers, much harder than high wage workers.”
The Canadian unemployment rate soared to 13.7 per cent in May, the highest it’s been since 1982, Statistics Canada said. But nearly two in 10 Canadians who remain employed are working on reduced pay,