Liberals COVID-19 Support Measures Reveal Crisis in Canadas Low-Wage Job Market

Details: Published on Thursday, 16 April 2020 01:22; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2059 ... April 16, 2020
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Liberals’ COVID-19 Support Measures Reveal Crisis in Canada’s Low-Wage Job Market

Chris Roberts

Inequality and class disparity have been on full display in the devastating coronavirus outbreak. On the one hand, Canada’s dependence on the work of undervalued and underpaid healthcare workers, cleaners and retail employees has been clearer than ever. On the other, these workers are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis. In March, one-third of workers earning $14 an hour or less became jobless or lost most of their hours of work.

The emergency has also laid bare the limits and contradictions of the low-wage job market. Along with the United States, Canada has one of the highest share of low-paid workers in the OECD. In the name of ‘flexibility’, reforms in the 1990s and 2000s established a labour market in which a succession of McJobs was expected to serve as the primary shock absorber for working-class families. In turn, the role of Employment Insurance (EI) was to underwrite the low-wage economy.

While heartless and unjust, this vision might have... been plausible as long as these jobs remained plentiful. When even low-paid service jobs evaporated overnight, the failure of Canada’s income support system, and the urgent need to build something better, became obvious.