Economic and Social Reports, August 2022

The August 2022 issue of Economic and Social Reports is now available and contains three articles.

From 2008 to 2016, almost two in five self-employed child care business owners were immigrants

From 2008 to 2016, almost two in five (39.5%) Canadian self-employed child care service providers (SECCSPs) were immigrants, according to the study "Exploring the business dynamics of self-employed child care service providers." Unlike previous work that has focused on large daycare centres, the study used a novel dataset to examine the characteristics of small home-based child cares, which make up the majority of child care providers in Canada.

The study focused on the characteristics of SECCSPs, as well as their family income before, during, and after self-employment in the child care industry. It found that just over one in five (20.2%) SECCSPs had a child under 4 in the household and around one-half (49.0%) had a child under 13, suggesting that the desire to take care of one's own children is not a motivator for many SECCSPs. Overall, 30.4% of all SECCSPs were from low-income households, and the proportion was higher for immigrant providers (53.5%) than it was for non-immigrant providers (15.3%).

Though entering the industry had little effect on household income for providers not from low-income households, it resulted in a 39.0% average increase for providers from low-income households. Further, the household income of providers from low-income households rose another 8.6% in the year after self-employment in the daycare industry ended. This experience was similar for immigrant SECCSPs, with their household income increasing 16.0% after entering the industry and rising another 9.5% in the year after the child care business closed. This suggests that some individuals may use self-employment in the daycare industry as a stepping stone to future opportunities.

Less stringent COVID-19 restrictions during the Omicron wave

COVID-19 restrictions were less stringent during the Omicron wave than during previous waves of the pandemic, and there was less of an impact on the economy. Based on the COVID-19 Restrictions Index, which was developed by researchers at Statistics Canada, the article "COVID-19 restrictions index update" provides insight into the evolution of COVID-19 restrictions over the spring and summer of 2022. The article covers the Omicron wave of COVID-19 and the period following Omicron when restrictions were removed.

Previous work found that the economic impact of the COVID-19 restrictions was stronger once the restrictions went above a certain threshold level. The restrictions related to the Omicron wave had less of an impact on the economy because the restrictions did not rise greatly above this threshold. Also, since the earlier waves, businesses and governments have invested in physically distanced workplaces and remote technologies and a larger portion of the population has been vaccinated.

Work from home rates remained higher in Canada than in the United States during COVID-19

The rates at which employees worked from home in Canada (37%) and the United States (35%) were roughly the same in May 2020, but the rate declined faster in the United States than it did in Canada throughout the pandemic. By December 2021, the number of employees working from home as a share of total employees had fallen to 22% in Canada and 11% in the United States.

The study "Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: How rates in Canada and the United States compare" also found that, in both countries, the rates of working from home tended to be higher for women compared with men; for workers aged 25 to 54 compared with other age groups; for those employed full-time compared with part-time workers; and for those with higher levels of education. These rates tended to be higher in Canada than in the United States.

While sectors that require working directly with people or with heavy machinery have a limited scope for home-based work, the study found that even at the industry level, the decline in work-from-home rates was still higher in the United States than in Canada.

The Daily

Products

The August 2022 issue of Economic and Social Reports, Vol. 2, no. 8 (36280001) is now available. This issue contains the articles "Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: How rates in Canada and the United States compare," "COVID-19 restrictions index update," and "Exploring the business dynamics of self-employed child care service providers."