Pandemic causing increased stress around jobs, finances: StatsCan

More than one-third of Canadian workers are afraid of losing their jobs in the short term due to the economic downturn sparked by the Covid-19 outbreak, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

A survey designed to capture the effects of Covid-19 on the Canadian job market and financial security found that 34.5% are worried about losing their job or their main source of income in the next four weeks, the agency said.

A similar proportion, 29.0%, report that the pandemic fallout is having a “moderate or major impact on their ability to meet financial obligations or essential needs such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities and groceries,” it found.

Another 23.8% said it was too soon to tell what the impact would be, and 47.2% reported that the impact is minor or that they’re not impacted.

“Canadians aged 55 and older were least likely to report a moderate or major impact on their ability to meet financial obligations or essential needs (19.3%), compared with youth (31.0%) and core-aged people (35.9%),” StatsCan reported.

The age difference was primarily driven by the fact that older people are less likely to be employed, it said, noting that there is little difference across age groups among workers.

The survey also found that the financial impacts of Covid-19 are associated with differences in mental health.

“The share of Canadians reporting fair or poor mental health (as opposed to good, very good, or excellent) was twice as high among Canadians for whom Covid-19 is having a moderate or major impact on their ability to meet financial obligations or essential needs (25.2%) than among those for whom there is little to no financial impact (12.8%),” StatsCan said.

It also noted that people experiencing financial impacts were more likely to be concerned about their own health.

The results are based on a survey of more than 4,600 people across the country between March 29 to April 3.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.