New census data shows how commuting dropped during pandemic, labour force aging
New census data shows how commuting dropped during pandemic, labour force aging
OTTAWA -
New census data shows commuting levels dropped significantly in 2021 compared to 2016, and while some of that decline has rebounded, transit ridership hasn't fully recovered.
According to Statistics Canada, there were 2.8 million fewer commuters in 2021 than in 2016 as the pandemic drove a shift toward remote work.
The federal agency published a series of reports Wednesday based on the 2021 census, with two of them focused on commuting to work and the evolution of the labour force.
The data shows how COVID-19 altered commuting patterns and commute times, which fell with fewer cars on the road. StatCan notes that while those times are now rising again, commutes are still faster than they were in 2016.
Tricia Williams, director of research evaluation and knowledge mobilization at the Future Skills Centre, said the pandemic is a "tale of multiple stories."
"When you look at a lot of working-class people, their lives maybe haven't changed so much." Williams said. "But there's a vast swath of the population that has been able to have more flexible, remote workplaces."
The new census report illustrates that dichotomy. The drop in car commuting in May 2021 was mostly among workers in professional service industries. Among other workers, the number of car commuters actually increased.
By May 2021, most transit routes were operating normally with public health measures in effect, including mask mandates on trains and buses. A million Canadians took a bus or train to work in 2021, less than the 1.2 million who took transit when the data was first collected in 1996 and almost 50 per cent lower than it was in 2016.
Given the impact of the pandemic on remote work and commuting, StatCan also compared the 2021 data with updated numbers from this spring.
That showed that by May 2022, the number of people driving to work was back to 2016 levels. However, the number of people taking public transit was still lower than it was six years ago, making up just 7.7 per cent of all commuters.
Fewer people walked or biked to work in 2021 even though the federal government has spent millions on active transportation in recent years, including more than $400 million in 2021 alone.
Between 2016 and 2021 the number of people walking or cycling dropped by 26 per cent to 811,000. StatCan says that is due in part to the fact that there were fewer jobs in accommodations, food services and retail in 2021 -- nearly a third of the people who walked or biked to work in 2016 were in those sectors.
Williams said coming out of the pandemic, workers are hesitant to give up remote working.
"I think we'll continue to see flexibility as the new normal in workplaces," she said.
Statistics Canada has also published data on how the labour force is evolving as the Canadian population ages.
The labour force participation rate has fallen each census year since 2006 because of the aging of the baby boomer generation. As their growing health needs combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, pressures on the health-care system have increased.
The number of health-care workers increased by nearly 17 per cent between 2016 and 2021, but the rising demand for health-care workers during the pandemic has also brought into focus the challenges of ongoing labour shortages.
"Given the importance of demographic changes to economic growth, there will be continued focus on the extent to which immigration can mitigate the effects of population aging," the report said.
Between 2016 and 2021, 1.3 million immigrants were admitted to Canada, more than during any previous five-year period.
Experts have long raised concerns that immigrants are sometimes underutilized in the labour market. However, the report found that the unemployment gap is narrowing for recent immigrants in the working age group between 25 and 64.
In 2021, there was a 3.2 percentage-point gap in the unemployment rates of recent immigrants compared to other workers in the same age range. That's down from five percentage points in 2016.
During a news conference Wednesday, Statistics Canada's director general for labour and social well-being, Josee Begin, highlighted factors that may have contributed to the narrowing of the gap, including previous work or education experience in Canada.
"We know that recent immigrants are more educated than any previous cohort of immigrants," Begin said. "The fact that they are more educated has an impact in terms of the labour market outcomes."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 30, 2022.
In an unusual move, the Russian Defence Ministry broadcast that one of its newest warships, the Admiral Gorshkov, had tested the strike capabilities of a hypersonic Zircon missile in a virtual drill.
The federal Liberal government is joining the Opposition Conservatives in no longer allowing its members of Parliament to expense taxpayers for home internet services.
In an exclusive interview with CTV’s Power Play, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is praising the moves from Western countries to send tanks to Ukraine.
On Feb. 27, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needed fighters, and foreigners were welcome to join the front line in the defence against Russian aggression. Some Canadians were among the first to answer the call.
Canada is sending four combat-ready battle tanks to Ukraine and will be deploying 'a number' of Canadian Armed Forces members to train Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate them.
Retailers and tech companies use many tools to mine consumers for data they can share with third parties, but there are steps consumers can take to protect and safeguard their personal information.
Following the deaths of more than 300 children from contaminated cough syrups in several countries, Health Canada says it's been more than a decade since similar cases were identified here.
On CTVNews.ca/W5: Executive Producer Derek Miller highlights an example of a W5 mini investigation that never made it to air, but made a difference in someone's life nonetheless.
On CTVNews.ca/W5: Executive Producer Derek Miller highlights some of W5's upcoming investigations, including Mexico's multi-billion dollar avocado industry run by cartels, and a continuing look into the Pivot Airlines passengers and crew who were detained for months without charges in the Dominican Republic.
The five-member Pivot Airlines crew, who had been detained in the Dominican Republic for almost eight months, is now back in Canada. An emotional airport reunion took place in a special pre-arrivals area of Toronto Pearson International Airport, as the two flight attendants, pilot, co-pilot and mechanic were greeted by family.
W5 speaks with Pivot Airlines flight attendant Christina Carello, who reveals new details about how she uncovered key evidence that had been tampered with in a nightmare ordeal in the Dominican Republic.
CTV's W5 has been shown never-before-seen surveillance footage of Punta Cana International Airport from the night before a Canadian airline crew was detained after discovering duffel bags stuffed with 210 kilograms of cocaine in their plane's avionics bay.
Fifty years ago, Omar Sachedina’s mother was expelled from Uganda along with tens of thousands of other Asians. This summer, she returned to her village for the first time. Omar recounts, in his own words, the emotional return to his mother’s homeland on CTVNews.ca.
CTV W5 investigates claims by parents who say seclusion and restraints are being used in schools on their children with disabilities, without their permission or knowledge.
The family of a prominent Toronto artist with autism is speaking out after one of the city’s oldest private clubs demanded he be supervised at all times while using the facilities – a decision that prompted the artist to file a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
The Toronto police will be rolling out an increased presence across the TTC following a rash of violent, and sometimes random, incidents on the city’s transit system.
New video has emerged showing the moments before a Toronto man attacked his boss using two samurai swords at a North York bakery – an incident the man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for.
Ottawa police and Bylaw Services are telling residents and visitors they will be taking a zero-tolerance approach to parking, noise and fireworks violations downtown this weekend, on the one-year anniversary of the 'Freedom Convoy' demonstration.
A jury of six men and six women handed down their verdict Thursday morning for the death of Ryan Babineau, who died after suffering nearly 70 stab wounds and lacerations.
Parker Graye, a 33-year-old from Orillia, has always loved performing and has been pursuing her dream of becoming a musician since she was a little girl.
The Bank of Canada's benchmark interest rate has risen another quarter of a percentage point, but it comes with the promise of a pause. London-area homebuilders are hopeful that will bolster the market.
He hails from the Municipality of Lakeshore but this week, 21-year-old Roman De Angelis is on holy ground for a race car driver — set to take to the iconic track of Daytona International Speedway this weekend in the Rolex 24.
Conservationist Wayne King had tears in his eyes Thursday when professional geo-scientist Pete Zuzek made him aware funding could be on the way to help resolve the erosion of Hillman Marsh.
In 2021, 22-year-old Taylor Halperin moved BEEhind The Lens Photography into a new home: a studio on St-Charles Boulevard in Pierrefonds-Roxboro. Early Wednesday morning, her studio and several businesses next door caught fire.
Housing in Quebec is becoming increasingly expensive and increasingly difficult to find. Data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMGC) shows the housing crisis is worsening, both in terms of rental costs and availability. Although landlord and tenant groups interpret the federal agency's data differently, both agree: it's no longer possible to ignore the situation or rely on the market to correct it.
The Manitoba government is issuing a second round of cheques to help people deal with inflation in a move that critics say has more to do with boosting the governing Progressive Conservatives' chances in the next election.
A small dog - likely a Pekingese cross - is on the mend at a Winnipeg animal hospital after being attacked in northern Manitoba two weeks ago, thanks in part to a new light treatment.
Some rural Manitoba school divisions are advertising substitute teaching positions where a teaching degree or certificate is not required in an attempt to address a shortfall.
Calgary police have arrested one suspect and are still looking for another in connection to a December incident in a southwest parking lot that left the victim severely injured.
Rookie goaltender Jaxson Stauber made it two wins in as many career starts by making 34 stops on Thursday to help the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Derek Dupuis just happened to be outside for a cigarette Tuesday night when he saw a hatchback car smash into the side of one of his neighbours' pickups.
A chance discovery by an Edmonton area woman who was walking her dogs has turned out to be a massive fossilized bone that likely belonged to an Ice Age mammoth.
A coroner's inquest into Nicole Chan's death heard testimony Thursday about the Vancouver police officer's visit to the hospital just hours before she took her own life in 2019.
Fourteen months after Dave Martens' chicken barns on Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie were flooded, the repairs are almost complete and he finally has birds again. Now, he's trying to keep it that way.
Canada is sending four combat-ready battle tanks to Ukraine and will be deploying 'a number' of Canadian Armed Forces members to train Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate them.
The CEO of Via Rail says that after a tree fell on a passenger train as it travelled on CN Rail tracks during the holidays, it took the freight company longer than hoped to clear it -- and passengers on board were stuck for 18 hours.
Liberal member of Parliament and former cabinet minister Kirsty Duncan has announced that she is taking an immediate medical leave due to a 'physical health challenge.'
New research indicates that head injuries are associated with two to three times higher mortality rates in adults, with neurodegenerative diseases more likely following instances of head trauma.
A chance discovery by an Edmonton area woman who was walking her dogs has turned out to be a massive fossilized bone that likely belonged to an Ice Age mammoth.
Sarah Del Seronde is a big believer in interrogating the word 'legacy,' particularly as it relates to her late husband, the filmmaker Jeff Barnaby. Before his death in October, the 46-year-old had an outsized influence on Indigenous storytelling -- and Seronde said that part of his work is ongoing.
Shares of BuzzFeed Inc. extended gains to more than double in value on Thursday on reports the digital media firm was planning to use artificial intelligence to personalize and enhance its online quizzes and content.
The federal privacy watchdog says Home Depot shared details from electronic receipts with Meta, which operates the Facebook social media platform, without the knowledge or consent of customers.
A landmark lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department against Alphabet's Google over its dominance of advertising technology could help rivals and websites that sell ad space, but leaves an uncertain future for the advertisers themselves, experts told Reuters.
Elena Rybakina, a 23-year-old who represents Kazakhstan, reached her second final in a span of three major tournaments by beating Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (4), 6-3 at the Australian Open on Thursday, signalling a rapid rise toward the top of tennis.
The head of France's professional handball league resigned Wednesday after pleading guilty to child corruption and child pornography charges -- the country's latest sports scandal before it hosts next year's Paris Olympics.
The IOC made clear Wednesday it wants Russians to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutral athletes, in defiance of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call to exclude them entirely.
Tesla said it intends to invest US$3.6 billion to expand manufacturing capabilities in Nevada and is confident growing software-related profits, reflected in record net income reported Wednesday for the fourth quarter of last year, will keep margins higher than any other automaker.
Toyota set up a new leadership team Thursday in what the Japanese automaker said was a move to stay abreast of social changes like electrification and becoming a wider 'mobility company.'
