Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom suggests medical masks boost a person's facial attractiveness, highlighting a possible link between face coverings and perceptions of being responsible or caring during the global public health crisis.
The Cardiff University study titled 'Beyond the beauty of occlusion,' was published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.
To explore the so-called "sanitary-mask effect," which posits that medical masks’ association with disease and poor health makes the wearer appear less attractive, the researchers presented female participants with a series of male faces that were occluded, or partially concealed by a medical mask, cloth mask, book, or nothing at all.
The participants were then asked to rate the faces on their attractiveness.
The study found that faces were considered most attractive when covered by medical masks. Cloth masks, while the second most attractive, were still "significantly" more attractive than if no covering was worn, the researchers says.
And while they may be associated with disease or being more ill, medical masks "can also be seen as a sign of being responsible and caring citizens, which may positively impact perceived attractiveness," the study says.
The authors note that only male faces were used in the study and that the participants reported favourable views on the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
The relative effects of mask-wearing also need to be explored across genders, cultures and global health crises, they say.
Forty-three undergraduate psychology students were recruited from Cardiff University in Wales for the study.
One was excluded due to arbitrary responding, the researchers say, and all were female. Of the participants, 40 were between 18 and 24 years old. The majority, also 40, identified as white.
The images used in the study were based on 40 different male faces taken from the Chicago Face Database, developed at the University of Chicago for use in scientific research.
The faces varied in race and physical attractiveness, with the 20 most and 20 least attractive faces selected based on previous ratings in the database.
Although their hairstyles differed, none of the male faces had piercings, glasses or beards, and each looked to be between 18 and 30 years old. Only neutral facial expressions were chosen for the study.
Each face was then edited to create four images — one with a medical mask, cloth mask, book and no covering — creating a total of 160 images.
The experiment ran in February 2021 and was done online on each participant's device due to COVID-19 restrictions.
All 160 images were presented in a random order and the participants were asked to rate the male faces on a scale from one to seven, ranging from very unattractive to very attractive.
After rating the faces, each participant was asked to share their age, ethnicity and level of agreement with the following statements: whether face masks have become part of everyday life in the past year and whether the use of face masks is effective in preventing COVID-19 spread.
The study found that, contrary to the sanitary-mask effect, faces covered with a mask were seen as more attractive compared to those that weren't.
The results appeared to be consistent with past findings suggesting occlusion improves attractiveness and that medical masks increase the attractiveness of unattractive and average faces.
But the researchers say the effect of a medical mask goes beyond just hiding undesirable features.
"It is possible that the additional advantage for medical masks comes from their associations with medical professionals," they said.
The study cites previous research showing how females rate male doctors as more attractive if they wear a white coat.
However, that research found the "white-coat effect" on attractiveness was reversed for female faces.
As well, the chief study cited by the researchers out of Cardiff on the sanitary-mask effect used mostly female faces.
This medical mask effect, while associated with those in a "caring profession," also may only be present during the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers say.
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.