The World of Work Post-Pandemic

Don Drummond
Stauffer-Dunning Fellow, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University

Patrick Deutscher
Adjunct Professor, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University

The Covid crisis led to rapid and unprecedented job loss as a large swathe of the economy was shut down. While some jobs came back quickly as public health rules have relaxed, employment remains well below pre-crisis levels. The pace of recovery will be uneven across sectors and occupations with consequences for the reemployment rates of women, low-wage workers and some ethnic groups. 

Even if the health-related aspects of COVID-19 subside over the next year, there will likely be lingering and even permanent effects on the world of work that will shape the economic recovery. The ways that business and workers adapt pandemic life -more experience with remote work, safety requirements for shopping, dining and personal services, reassessment of long-distance supply chains- may lead to sustained changes in our working lives.

The scale and spread of job loss revealed that there were large parts of the work-force unprotected by the social safety net. Government responded with an improvised and massive amount of income support. Does the Covid crisis illustrate a need for profound reform of income support programs in Canada? Or should we proceed by filling the gaps in coverage?

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