Employment & labour

New federal sickness benefit falls short

Oct 1, 2020

Workers in Canada will have access to a federal paid sick leave benefit, but it doesn’t go far enough. The new Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit applies to people unable to work because they have or may have COVID-19 or must self-isolate for reasons related to COVID. It also applies to people undergoing treatments, people with… View Article

Canadian billionaires’ wealth skyrocketing amid the pandemic

Sep 16, 2020

By Alex Hemingway and Michal Rozworski

When you add up the total wealth growth of Canada’s richest 20 billionaires since the March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, their wealth has ballooned by $37 billion. Data from Forbes’ annual billionaires list and their “real-time billionaires” listing shows that Canada’s top 20 billionaires have amassed an average of just under $2 billion in wealth gains… View Article

How are British Columbians doing: COVID-19 economic security & government supports

Jul 28, 2020

By Marc Lee, Shannon Daub and Alex Hemingway

The economic impact of the shutdown of large parts of BC’s economy in response to COVID-19 has reflected a sharp recession: a massive and rapid increase in involuntary unemployment, including layoffs, job losses and reduced hours; reduced household and business income and expenditure; closures (whether mandated or not) or greatly reduced capacity of many retail… View Article

Eight charts that show highly unequal impact of COVID-19 on BC workers

Jun 26, 2020

By Iglika Ivanova

The COVID-19 crisis has caused unprecedented job losses across Canada and BC has not been spared. Between February and May nearly 590,000 BC workers lost their jobs or the majority of their hours—23 per cent of all workers employed in February—with that number reaching its peak of 645,000 in April. Despite a slight recovery of… View Article

Paid sick leave finally on the agenda: Here’s why it matters

May 27, 2020

By Iglika Ivanova and Kendra Strauss

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that everyone’s health and well-being depends on workers being able to stay home when they are sick. In BC, workers now have a legal right to time off when they are ill—three days for regular illness and unlimited time for COVID-19—but not paid time off. As a result,… View Article

Working multiple jobs to make ends meet: More common in BC than we might think

May 6, 2020

By Iglika Ivanova and Kendra Strauss

The devastating toll of COVID-19 in nursing homes across the country has drawn attention to the fact that many workers in long-term care work at multiple facilities because they need more than one job to make a living, and this has directly contributed to the tragedy that is currently unfolding. Unfortunately, long-term care workers aren’t… View Article

Legislated paid sick leave is long overdue

May 4, 2020

By David Fairey

Workers in British Columbia without a union collective agreement have no paid sick leave rights under the Employment Standards Act—the provincial legislation that contains the minimum conditions of employment for all workers, such as minimum wage and statutory holidays with pay. On March 23, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government made two… View Article

A progressive macroeconomic response to the coronavirus crisis in British Columbia

Apr 27, 2020

By Michal Rozworski

While much of the world remains under strict lockdown and we have yet to determine the full extent of the already-unprecedented economic crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, it is not too early to start thinking about the way out of the crisis. So many people have seen their incomes collapse or their jobs… View Article

Comparing provincial economic responses to COVID-19

Apr 23, 2020

By Marc Lee and Arman Hamidian

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital importance of collective responses via governments at all levels. The Canadian context of federalism, with a division of powers between federal and provincial/territorial governments, also highlights key differences in approaches to the pandemic. At its best, federalism is an advantageous arrangement, with the federal government addressing national issues,… View Article

Taking stock of COVID-19 economic policy measures in BC

Apr 7, 2020

By Marc Lee

A multitude of measures have been tabled by the provincial and federal governments to prop up workers and an economy reeling from mandated closures of businesses brought about by physical distancing measures. Spring 2020 will be a period economic historians will be writing about for decades to come. Most economists were encouraging significant fiscal and… View Article

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