COVID-19 pandemic bottomed out the economy, according to Statistics Canada data released Wednesday.That represents just over a third of the provincial labour force, said University of Manitoba associate economics professor Fletcher Baragar.Manitoba’s labour force was 690,000 as of 2019, per the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics’ last four-year report.
CERB poses back-to-work dilemma: ‘We’re being incentivized to make just under $1,000’ However, Baragar notes that the number of people who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit could appear skewed because it doesn’t necessarily mean 246,000 people were out of work at one time.“Some may have only been unemployed for a short period of time, others for a longer period of time — so, it.