P.E.I. has regained the jobs lost in the pandemic, but they aren't the same
CBC
By some measures the Prince Edward Island economy has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the recovery has not looked the same for everyone.
Over the course of the coming weeks, CBC News will investigate some of these trends more deeply, seeking expert opinion and talking to some of the Islanders affected by them.
For now, here are the numbers themselves.
The number of jobs in the economy in October 2021 — 80,000 —was virtually the same as it was in October 2019 (80,200).
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The number of those that were full time was about as close as it could be: 68,400 in 2019 and 68,300 in 2020.
The population has grown in those two years so the unemployment rate is higher. It was 8.3 per cent in 2019 and 9.1 per cent this October, which is still low by historical standards for the Island.
And this is where we start getting into some significant differences.
The unemployment rate on the Island would be higher this year, but the percentage of Islanders choosing to be part of the workforce, known as the participation rate, remains unusually low at 65 per cent. Only once in the five years before the pandemic started was it lower.
While the number of jobs in the economy can jump around from month to month, the participation rate tends to be more consistent. During the pandemic, it has been more erratic.
In the five years up to February 2020, it averaged 66.3 per cent. If the participation rate had been that high in October, the unemployment rate would have been 11 per cent.
Diving a little deeper, we find that the distribution of Islanders leaving the workforce is far from even.
Men are only a little less active in the workforce but women, especially older women, are opting out in larger numbers..
The participation rate for men fell just 0.4 percentage points, to 70.6 per cent, while for women it fell 3.2 percentage points to 59.4 per cent.
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