A new Environics Institute survey suggests COVID-19 did not dent Canadians’ outlook about the future or their confidence in their ability to bounce back quickly after hard times, even as the pandemic’s effects on employment began to be felt.

The Survey on Employment and Skills, conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research in partnership with the Future Skills Centre and Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute, found that Canadians did not lose confidence in themselves or the social safety net as the impact of the pandemic set in. Yet confidence was greater among those with higher levels of education and income, with less secure workers less certain they can access the resources they need to weather the pandemic’s employment storm.

Workers say skills training contributes to their ability to succeed at work, but half the Canadian labour force has had no employer-delivered skills training in the last five years, the survey found.

COVID-19 caused a significant shift in Canadians’ outlook on employment, with more workers across the country reporting it was a bad time to find a job or that they were worried about job security for themselves or a family member.

The only province where residents did not register increased job insecurity was Alberta, where the level of pessimism was already very high.

The survey also shows that even before COVID-19, many Canadians were concerned about job security and had direct or indirect experiences with unemployment, with half of those in the labour force worried about their jobs pre-pandemic.

Some highlights:

• After the pandemic was declared, 63% of Canadians said they were confident in their abilities, compared to 61% before that time
• After the pandemic was declared, 54% said they felt they could bounce back quickly after hard times, compared to 51% before that time
• After the pandemic was declared, 65% of Canadians felt it was likely they would receive government support if they lost their job as the pandemic took hold, compared to 61% before that time
• 51% of the labour force has had no employer-delivered skills training in the last five years, with low-income workers less likely to have received this type of training (42%) than high earners (63%), and workers 55+ receiving less (36%) than those aged 25-54 (52%)
• Almost one in two Canadian workers said they were very or somewhat worried about themselves or a member of their immediate family finding or keeping a stable, full-time job after the pandemic set in
• Older workers are less likely to be worried about job security (40% of those 55+, compared to 56% of those aged 25-34)
• Women (44%) are more likely than men (35%) to say that now is a bad time to find a job where they live