In the second of their series of briefs looking at the labour market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, GLRC Director Luann Good Gingrich and examine the differing impacts between men and women, with a focus on workers aged 15-64 using data from the monthly (LFS) conducted by Statistics Canada.
Economists and policy analysts note that the brunt of the recession has been borne by women, referencing a 鈥溾. As we eagerly turn our attention to economic recovery, some have noticed a in labour market indicators and the need for a 鈥溾 or 鈥溾.
In the second in this series of briefs looking at the labour market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine the differing impacts between men and women. We focus on workers aged 15-64 using data from the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted by Statistics Canada.
We know that women are disproportionately represented in jobs that are low wage and precarious, and that even in Canada, women working full-time earn $0.75 for every dollar earned by a man. So it is not surprising that the labour market impacts of the global health and economic crisis have been unevenly felt by men and women. Early on in the pandemic, economist Armine Yalnizyan coined the economic downturn caused by the pandemic as the first 鈥渟he-cession鈥, and claimed that the consequences of that trend could last much longer than the health crisis. She reported that 鈥淩ecessions are defined by both depth and duration,鈥 and this downturn could be an especially long slog for many female workers. Moreover, high-risk jobs in the pandemic are held predominantly by women ( [PDF]), resulting, for example, in a high proportion (36% in Ontario) of COVID-19 cases that have been among women working in health care, and of those, 45% were immigrants and refugees (). We know that 鈥渙ver half of all female workers (56%) are employed in occupations involving the 鈥5 Cs鈥: caring, clerical, catering, cashiering, and cleaning鈥 ( [PDF]) 鈥 jobs that are feminized and thus devalued, yet 鈥渆ssential鈥 in containing the pandemic and leaving women more vulnerable to contracting the virus. To the extent possible using the LFS public use data from January to July 2020, we examine these issues in this brief.