Today, Four County Labour Market Planning Board, in partnership with six other workforce planning boards that are part of Workforce Planning West, released their COVID-19 Worker Impact Survey Results to help inform the ongoing development of responsive employment-related initiatives. The survey collected 2,330 responses across 16 counties in Southwestern Ontario, including responses in Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth.

The COVID-19 crisis has made significant impacts locally and globally in regards to business, livelihoods, and jobs. Using the survey, Workforce Planning West is sharing the results so all policy and decision-makers have a better understanding of how the crisis has impacted jobs and families in our region.

The survey asked about the extent to which a worker’s employment status might have changed since March 2, 2020, their occupation, and which sector they are employed. This information provides insight into which groups of workers have been most affected and in what ways.

A finding from the survey include:

• As on March 2, 2020, 1,800 people were on full-time employment, 335 worked as part time, and 132 were unemployed. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, only 567 (24%) were still working in their usual place of work. The remaining 76% experienced different degrees of change to their jobs: 713 people (31%) started working from home temporarily, 607 people (26%) were temporarily not working due to the crisis and 68 (3%) have permanently lost their work. For more detailed information on the survey results please visit the dashboard at The COVID-19 Worker Impact Survey Results Dashboard.

The results of this survey will give government, businesses, and the community a better understanding of how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted the workforce. The Four County Labour Market Planning Board, would like to know more about the local impact of the COVID-19 on families in Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth. For this reason, the local survey will continue to be open at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FCLMPBCOVID19.

“It is extremely important for us to keep our fingers on the pulse of this situation, which is why we feel this survey will give us some key insights to help our community through this time and post pandemic,” says Gemma Mendez-Smith, Executive Director of the Planning Board.

source: media release, Four County Labour Market Planning Board