Federally, the job picture may be even more bleak than first thought

A new indication from the federal government on Wednesday, of just how many people could have been put out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
President of the Treasury Board, Jean-Yves Duclos says 7.5 million people have already received at least one payment from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. He added that they've had 10.9 million applications. 
 
When you look at the stats, the picture isn't a rosy one. 
 
According to Statistics Canada, there are 19 million full and part-time workers in the country. 10.9 million out of that, would put the unemployment rate at around 40%. 
 
However, the last update from StatsCan, indicated the unemployment rate was only 7.8%. 
 
Rafael Gomez is a professor of Industrial Relations at the U of T, and says the unemployment rate is not a good indicator, because it asks the question, "are you looking for work?"
 
Many people affected by COVID-19 won't be looking for work, since they are furloughed, meaning they still have a job to go to, when they are needed again. 
 
But Gomez says it may not be that easy. 
 
He says there may be a demand problem when stores are allowed to open, meaning people may not want to go out into the public, because they have learned new methods of shopping. Or they are nervous about being out in public. 
 
So, that could mean some of those people who are waiting for work to restart, may no longer have jobs to go back to.