Indigenous Winnipeggers, visible minorities, people with disabilities hit harder by pandemic: city economist

The financialeffect of the COVID-19 pandemiccould be felt for years to come, says the City of Winnipeg's economist and it hasn't hit all people in the city equally.

TylerMarkowskyshared those conclusions withcouncillors Thursday as part of a presentation to thecity's innovation and economicdevelopment committeeon the effects of thehealth crisis on Winnipeg's economy.

Backed by data from Statistics Canada, the Chambers of Commerce, the Conference Board of Canada and other sources, Markowskyprovided some specific impacts of the lockdown that began last March.

Overall, the unemployment rate in the Winnipegmetropolitan area stood at 11.2 per cent in July, anincrease of 5.8 per cent over the same time last year, Markowsky said.

The socio-economic impact of the pandemic has affectedIndigenous people, visible minorities and people with disabilities at higher rate than other demographics, he said.

Theemployment rate for men is recovering faster than women.

People from the city's Filipino and West Asian populations experienced higher job lossand a greater reduction inhours than white residentsat the height of the lockdown.

Many people in those groups work in the retail, restaurant and hospitality sectors those hithardest hit by the pandemic restrictions.

Winnipeg, which in part counts on immigration to increaseits population,is also seeinga decline inpopulation growth in 2020, with bordersclosed and the system that administers immigration slowed by the pandemic.

Markowsky's figures came with the caution thatthere is alag in the availability of data, and limitations in terms of sample size that present challenges toeconomists and statisticians when using some of thedata.

Uncertainty affects business confidence

Though there is a recovery underway, Markowsky says many business owners and operators are still unsure of the future.

"I think there is a lot of uncertainty right nowand [that]undermines business confidence," Markowsky told councillors on the committee.

"The bottom line is that the pandemic is uncertain. It's uncertain how long the pandemic will play out. It is uncertain when we will see a vaccine," he later told CBC News in an interview.

"And secondarily, it's uncertain how governments, people and and businesses will react under those conditions."

While some of the impacts of the pandemicweren'ta complete surpriseto committee chair Jeff Browaty, they did underline concerns the North Kildonan councillor is hearing from business owners in his ward.

"Who knows how long until we come back to some level of normal?" Browaty said.

The uncertainty for some business owners has a knock-on effect for the city of Winnipeg.

"What's going to happen to commercial rents, for example, if all of a sudden there'sa huge amount of vacancy in retail and office space?" Browaty said.

"What is it going to do to our [tax] assessment rollif all of a sudden the value of these commercial properties goes down?"

A decline in revenue from business taxescouldput pressure on residential properties in terms of property values and taxes, Browaty said.

"There'scertainly challenges and unknowns going forward."