Signal Report: How Canadians Can Help To Rebuild Their Local Economies In 2022
A Post-Pandemic Economic Perspective
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said the acute phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic could end this year, if about 70 percent of the world gets vaccinated (AL Jazeera, 2022).
This could mean an upswing in economic activity for many parts of the world, including Canada, in many different sectors. But Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn A. Wilkins, warns that the economy will not grow at the rate it might have before the pandemic. Businesses were hurt, some are recovering, and will be less likely to be able to invest in growth. She suggests that rebuilding the economy will have to be done more creatively: paying particular attention to sectors who were hit the hardest like hospitality, tourism, food & beverage, and recreational services. Governor Wilkins says that a boost in productivity is crucial to the rebuilding of the economy, and innovation.
“Some workers have lost jobs because of technological change.
- We must help them by investing in education and continuous learning
- Programs that helped workers stay connected to their employers during the pandemic have been important. We should also look for ways to help more women return to the workforce and stay employed.
- Governments and businesses will need to work together more. The pandemic gave us many examples of the private sector pitching in” (Wilkins, 2020).
Global unemployment remains high while industry continues to experience a labour shortage due to the pandemic. “In Canada, the job vacancy rate hit its highest level since 2015, while employment remained well below its pre pandemic peak,” (Wolf, 2021). Many working Canadians have changed industries, due to contagion risk in several high-contact workplaces: like tourism & hospitality, food & beverage for example, while others remain unemployed. This has left a desperate labour shortage for some industries in our Country, and globally. One important factor in the labour shortage is the pandemic has altered industries and locations where prospective employees would want to work. Here’s a morbid example; in 2020, the mortality rate of chefs in the food service industry was in excess of 60% over the previous year, (Wolf, 2021). The same can be said for all industries where people are in close contact with one another, in order to do their job - so it’s safe to say that there should be a focused effort on recovery of specific industries (like tourism & hospitality).
One popular opinion is that companies need to pay service industry workers higher wages to help account for the added risk and working conditions associated with their jobs.
While this idea would certainly attract more employees it could prove difficult for the companies to maintain their profits (Wolf, 2021). Provinces need to look at things like minimum wage increases & relief support to companies in most impacted sectors, continuously.
In January, 2022, The Province of Nova Scotia promised a minimum wage increase to $15/hour by 2024 (Retail Council of Canada, 2022).
What driving factors are employees experiencing today?
In order to attract employees in 2022, companies need to evaluate what is important to people today. With health & safety at the forefront of employee concerns, being able to afford their lives with the current rates of inflation in Canada - workers want to know that their work environment is safe, flexible, and that they’ll be paid fairly for their work, accounting for their level of risk of infection.
Employers must keep in mind that continuance of vaccination and policies to help workers be and feel safe, increase in wages where possible, and continued flexibility (like allowing workers to have flexibility to work from home), may prove to be the best way forward in 2022.
It’s clear that there is no one solution, but there are many things that individuals can do in order to help our economy recover from the downturn.
While helping to fix the economy might feel like it’s out of our control - maybe one of the most important things we can do as a society is a commitment to supporting local companies within our own communities, choosing them over online and big-box options wherever possible, specifically in the most impacted sectors. Whether it’s a staycation in your own province or country, purchasing consumer goods, sending someone flowers, or deciding to support a local restaurant or cafe a number of times each month, it will take a joined, concentrated effort from all people & governments to rebuild the economy.