Premium
Labor issues and COVID‐19
Author(s) -
Larue Bruno
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
canadian journal of agricultural economics/revue canadienne d'agroeconomie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1744-7976
pISSN - 0008-3976
DOI - 10.1111/cjag.12233
Subject(s) - protectionism , unemployment , closing (real estate) , covid-19 , pandemic , business , foreign direct investment , economics , labour economics , investment (military) , food security , international trade , agriculture , economic policy , economic growth , political science , finance , medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , ecology , pathology , politics , biology , law , macroeconomics
The COVID‐19 pandemic has prompted Canada and several other countries to impose an economic shutdown to prevent a deadly public health crisis from becoming much deadlier. In the agriculture and food sector, several hundred thousand restaurant workers have lost their jobs. The rise in unemployment, the closing of restaurants and schools, and social distancing have triggered demand reductions for certain commodities and foods and demand increases for others, bringing along changes in demand for inputs including labor. Canadian employers of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are facing delays and additional constraints in recruiting, but so have US and European employers of TFWs. Rising food security concerns are making protectionist trade policies popular. Domestic and foreign firms may export less and do more foreign direct investment, inducing trade in jobs.