In the fourth of their series of briefs looking at the labour market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, statistician Andrew Mitchell and GLRC Director Luann Good Gingrich compare the recessions of 2008-09 and 2020-21 using data from the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted by Statistics Canada.
The depth and severity of the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has motivated comparisons to the last serious recession in Canada, which began in the fall of 2008 and is considered to have been the most severe downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the former case, specific government policies led to the crisis, while in the latter, government interventions shaped the impacts.
In the fourth installment in this series of briefs examining labour market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, we use data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for those aged 15-64, to compare the recessions of 2008-09 and 2020-21. Understanding the differences in impacts may help us to shape a precise and effective path forward and out of the current recession. In this brief we will compare the two recessions in terms of the impacts by gender (women versus men), age, immigration status, wage level, industry, unionization, and firm size. We track labour market impacts through the course of each recession, starting with the reference month, or the month prior to the onset of the recession.