Women and low-income youth hardest hit for jobs, B.C. finance minister says
Women and low-income youth have been the hardest hit by the economic fallout from COVID-19, B.C. Finance Minister Carole James said on Wednesday.
“It’s too early to be able to calculate the full economic consequences of COVID-19, but we do know that the effect of this pandemic is as bad as we’ve ever seen,” James said, adding the 2008 recession hit the real estate and financial sectors, but coronavirus has primarily hit the service sector.
“The majority of job losses have happened to people who are making at, or near minimum wage,” she said. “That means young people and women have been the most vulnerable. The youth unemployment rate is a staggering 29 per cent, and women make up more than 60 per cent of the job losses in the hardest-hit sectors.”
There are 185 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., with no deaths reported over the past five days. There were 19 new cases reported between noon Tuesday and noon Wednesday. Of active cases, 11 are in hospital, including five in intensive care.
There have been three outbreaks reported in healthcare facilities over the past two days — at the Mission Memorial Hospital and the Tabor Home and Maple Hill long-term care facilities, in Abbotsford and Langley.
Horgan said he wanted
British Columbians to say how they thought that money should be spent, either through an online survey at gov.bc.ca/recoveryideas, by responding to a paper called Building B.C.’s Recovery, Together: Have Your Say by emailing recoveryideas@gov.bc.ca or by participating in virtual town halls at gov.bc. ca/recoveryideas. The consultations are to last six weeks.
Horgan said the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, would reveal new
COVID-19 modelling on Monday, and based on that, he expected Phase 3 of B.C.’s restart plan would begin.
That phase would give British Columbians permission to travel freely throughout the province. Currently the province asks people to avoid all except essential travel.
Horgan said the government would soon launch a Destination B.C. tourism campaign.