APEC Report Looks At What Will Help Indigenous Workforce Recover From Pandemic – Huddle.Today
HALIFAX–Covid-19 has had serious economic effects on Indigenous businesses and communities.
The Atlantic Province’s Economic Council’s (APEC) latest report, which looks at Atlantic Canada’s Indigenous communities and businesses as part of a series on Covid-19 recovery, says that while much of that recovery has taken place, more is necessary.
Nationally, Covid-19 caused a sharp decline in Indigenous employment. For instance, off-reserve Indigenous women’s labour force participation took eighteen months to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Indigenous men and non-Indigenous people’s recovery, by comparison, took only six months.
Citing those challenges, Fred Bergman, APEC’s senior policy analyst (and the report’s author) says a focus on education and training, access to capital, and better partnerships would help address high unemployment rates and a high concentration of indigenous labour in low-wage industries.
