The pandemic has accelerated a polarization of jobs that has become a structural trend in the Canadian economy. Previous Cardus research has shown that this polarization of the labour market between low- and high-skilled occupations, with a declining share of jobs available for mid-skilled workers, has led to an “hourglass economy.”
Yet, even while the share of the labour force employed in professional occupations rises, the working class retains the largest share of workers in the Canadian economy, making them an important political economy constituency. But who is the working class in Canada? This paper seeks to answer this question by proposing a modern taxonomy of the workforce and a picture of the working class that draws on a rich body of demographic, economic, and labour-market data.
There is a growing "colour-coded" inequity and disparity in Ontario that has resulted in an inequality of learning outcomes, of health status, of employment opportunity and income prospects, of life opportunities, and ultimately of life outcomes. Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change believes that it is only by working together that we can make the needed change for all of our shared benefit These fact sheets provide data to help understand the racialization of poverty in Ontario.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many aspects of Canadian immigration, including reduced permanent resident admissions and lower labour market outcomes. This article presents the latest economic and mobility outcomes of immigrants admitted to Canada using data from the 2019 Longitudinal Immigration Database, and provides baseline estimates prior to the pandemic for future analyses. In recent years, the profile of immigrants admitted to Canada has changed. The median entry wage for immigrants admitted to Canada in 2017 was the highest to date, reaching $30,100 in 2018. This value surpassed the previous high of $26,500 for 2017 outcomes of immigrants admitted in 2016. These new data also highlight a decreasing gap between the immigrant median entry wage and the Canadian median wage ($37,400). Factors such as pre-admission experience, knowledge of official languages, and category of admission, among other socioeconomic characteristics, could contribute to the rise in median entry wage compared with previous admission years.
The Community of Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) website contains answers to common questions pertaining to a number of legal topics, including: COVID-19, debt and consumer rights, and employment and work.
This resource provides a directory of community legal clinics in Ontario. Community legal clinics provide information, advice, and representation on various legal issues, including social assistance, housing, refugee and immigration law, employment law, human rights, workers' compensation, consumer law, and the Canada Pension Plan. Some legal clinics do not handle all of these issues, but staff may be able to refer you to someone who can help. Community legal clinics are staffed by lawyers, community legal workers, and sometimes law students. Each legal clinic is run by a volunteer board of directors with members from the community. All help is private and confidential and provided free of charge.