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.
A woman held in a detention camp in Syria, along with her three Canadian children, says the federal government is forcing her to make an agonizing choice: relinquish custody of her kids so they can be repatriated to Canada, or keep them in the camp where the conditions are dire. Her children are eligible for repatriation but she is not a Canadian citizen.
More than five years since Canada’s Competition Bureau began an investigation into an alleged bread-price fixing scheme, no conclusions have been drawn nor charges laid. As the watchdog is now probing whether grocery stores are profiting from inflation, one expert says the effectiveness of its tools are in question.
Health Canada is reviewing the safety of domperidone amid reports that some breastfeeding mothers in Canada and the U.S. have had serious psychiatric symptoms when they tried to stop taking the drug.
Ukraine hopes to secure widespread international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Paris Olympics due to Moscow's invasion, the sports minister said on Tuesday.
More disciplinary action may be coming now that the harrowing video of Tyre Nichols' treatment has been released. The Memphis police department is among many U.S. law enforcement agencies with 'duty to intervene' policies. Memphis police relieved two other officers of duty Monday and say the department is still investigating what happened.
Based on Justin Trudeau's first-day fail in the House of Commons, 'meeting the moment' is destined to become the most laughable slogan since the elder Pierre Trudeau’s disastrous campaign rallying cry in 1972, which insisted 'the land is strong' just as the economy tanked.
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.
A 33-year-old Toronto man has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to two violent sexual assaults almost a decade ago.
The Toronto Raptors’ most recent win came with a surprise appearance from comedy legend Will Ferrell, who jokingly taunted the Raptors bench from his courtside seat just feet away.
Patients of an east Ottawa clinic say they've been left in the lurch after learning they would need to find new family doctors because their doctors were closing their medical practices.
London Police Service Chief Steve Williams says an investigation is being conducted after a member of the police service appeared at City Hall in uniform to express opposition to a proposed development.
While Londoners have generally united behind The London Plan’s philosophy that the city must slow sprawl through intensification, delivering on that promise is fueling division.On Monday, a pair of higher-density developments became the latest test of council’s commitment to intensification.
After failing to recruit hundreds of orderlies internationally, Francois Legault's government is now dangling the same solution to the nursing shortage. If the past is any indication of the future, the chances are slim that Quebec will see thousands of professional nurses coming to the rescue of the health-care system.
So far, the winter season across Southwestern Quebec has been marked by above-average snowfall and above-average temperatures, but that is about to change. Cold, arctic air has been gradually pushing into the province.
Political parties in Quebec City are divided over the controversial appointment of Amira Elghawaby as Justin Trudeau's special advisor on combating Islamophobia.
A blast of Arctic air will combine with northwest gusts to make it feel like -35 degrees or colder for parts of all three Maritime provinces Friday night into Saturday.
A Mi'kmaw member of Parliament says proposed changes to the boundaries of federal ridings in Nova Scotia would remove him and two Indigenous communities from his riding.
Peguis First Nation is set to become the first Indigenous group in Manitoba to take control of child welfare under federal legislation that came into effect three years ago.
The court case for a teenage girl accused of being behind the wheel in a crash that killed her younger sister and a friend has been adjourned until February.
Men from Calgary and the Greater Toronto Area have been charged in a rash of thefts of newer Land Rovers in Edmonton and police are looking for a third person.
A 20-year-old man has been arrested and charged after police say he caused more than $5,000 worth of damage to an Edmonton Transit Bus and threatened a female passenger, acts that drew condemnation from Alberta's premier.
Lauren Spencer-Smith of Nanaimo, B.C., is among the nominees for this year's Juno Awards, including for the artist of the year category. The 19-year-old singer who rose to fame after a stint on American Idol is up against established names like Michael Bublé, Avril Lavigne and The Weeknd in the most coveted category.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is talking to provinces and territories about new standards for the quality, design and operations of long-term care homes in Canada.
The Trudeau government is facing fresh calls to eliminate the backlog of disability claims from ill and injured veterans amid revelations Veterans Affairs Canada failed to spend nearly $1 billion of its budget last year.
Health Canada is reviewing the safety of domperidone amid reports that some breastfeeding mothers in Canada and the U.S. have had serious psychiatric symptoms when they tried to stop taking the drug.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is talking to provinces and territories about new standards for the quality, design and operations of long-term care homes in Canada.
Australian authorities are mounting an extensive search for a tiny radioactive capsule believed to have fallen out of a road train that travelled 1,400 km in Western Australia. Here's what you need to know:
Researchers were able to determine how the Southern Ring Nebula was created and understand how more than one star led to its 'messy death' by reconstructing the scene that happened thousands of years earlier.
The maker of ChatGPT is trying to curb its reputation as a freewheeling cheating machine with a new tool that can help teachers detect if a student or artificial intelligence wrote that homework.
China's government accused Washington on Tuesday of pursuing 'technology hegemony' following news reports the United States might step up pressure on tech giant Huawei by blocking all access to American suppliers.
Imperial Oil Ltd. says its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled compared with a year earlier, helped by a strong operating performance across all of its business.
Strength in the technology and base metal sectors helped Canada's main stock index post a triple-digit advance in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
With the spring break travel season approaching, those looking to flee the cold, wet Canadian snow for sunnier skies will likely be met with a hefty price tag for their getaway, with inflation and increased demand pushing costs up.
Personal fitness instructor Andrea Tam says, as people age they experience tight joints and muscles, but performing mobility exercises for 10 minutes each day can help increase flexibility and prevent injury.
Queen of clean Marie Kondo admits that tidying up is no longer top of her to-do list. Posting on her website shortly after the birth of her third child in 2021, the Japanese organization expert reflected on motherhood, saying she had 'eased up on herself' when it comes to tidying.
Ukraine hopes to secure widespread international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Paris Olympics due to Moscow's invasion, the sports minister said on Tuesday.
Gymnastics Canada chief executive officer Ian Moss was on the hot seat at the status of women hearings on safety of women in sport on Monday. Moss was repeatedly questioned by MPs about Gymnastics Canada's handling of coaches Ian Bard and Scott McFarlane amid accusations he knew of complaints from athletes.
The U.S. Justice Department has requested documents from Tesla related to its Autopilot and 'Full Self-Driving' features, according to a regulatory filing.
Europe is taking another big step toward cutting its energy ties with Russia, banning imports of diesel fuel and other products made from crude oil in Russian refineries. The European Union ban takes effect Feb. 5 following its embargo on coal and most oil from Russia.
Kia and Hyundai vehicles sold in Canada do not have the same anti-theft issue as those in the United States because of Canadian regulations, the automakers say.
