GUELPH – Toward Common Ground and collaborating partners have released a Vital Focus on Employment report.
It is the fourth in a series providing evidence-based recommendations on how to mitigate and address the secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the initial months of the pandemic, employment was impacted in a variety of ways, including:
– temporary layoffs left many workers still employed but without an income;
– permanent layoffs that resulted from business closures/revenue loss left some workers unemployed and without an income;
– other workers remained employed but saw a significant reduction in hours;
– many individuals started working from home/remotely, rather than from their usual place of work; and
– students and youth entering the workforce had greater difficulty finding employment.
Evidence suggests the secondary effects of the pandemic on employment are disproportionately felt by women, low-wage employees, youth, and recent immigrants.
The report focuses on data reported during the first wave of the pandemic, and this data may be indicative of future impacts as COVID-19 infection rates continue to rise in the second wave.
The report details national and local data and offers recommendations for community organizations, institutions and all orders of government on how to mitigate and address the secondary impacts over the longer term.
Increasing awareness of the pandemic’s effects across a range of issues helps identify and make sense of the community’s most urgent needs and how best to serve Guelph residents as we continue to work together to respond and recover from COVID-19.
For the full report visit https://bit.ly/3qsyYmu
