natural and human resources. yours is among the most highly educated populations in canada, with a great spirit of entrepreneurship. a healthy and diverse albertan economy will be important as we work toward securing a complete recovery. deep and disparate job losses at the start of 2020, canada ’ s labour market was in quite good shape. of course, we still had pockets of weakness, particularly in energy - intensive regions. but 1 d. a. green, r. morissette, b. m. sand and i. snoddy, “ economy - wide spillovers from booms : long - distance commuting and the spread of wage effects, ” journal of labor economics 37, no. s2 ( july 2019 ) : 643 – 687. - 3overall, we had largely undone the damage caused by the global financial crisis. the unemployment rate had fallen to near 40 - year lows. participation rates were increasing for all age groups. wage growth was rising, and the quality of jobs was improving. when covid - 19 arrived in canada, this all changed very suddenly. in just two months — march and april — roughly three million jobs disappeared. from february to may, the unemployment rate went from one of the lowest on record to one of the highest. if you add to the unemployed those canadians who wanted a job but were not actively looking and those workers whose hours were cut by more than half, almost five million more canadians did not have the work they wanted in april last year, compared with february. covid - 19 has affected everybody, but the impacts have been much more severe for some economic sectors and their workers. high - contact service industries — where physical distancing is either difficult or impossible — have been hammered. at the trough, output in sectors such as accommodation, food services, arts, entertainment and recreation had shrunk by more than 60 percent, while air transportation had fallen by more than 95 percent. meanwhile, industries where physical distancing or remote work is possible — such as professional services, finance, and public administration — have been much better able to adapt. and, of course, essential workers in health care and public safety are working harder than ever, and we ’ re all tremendously grateful to them. these starkly different effects across sectors have led to very unequal consequences for workers. because women and youth hold so many of the jobs in the hardest hit sectors, they have borne a disproportionate

and some jobs will not return either because of permanent changes in demand or the adoption of new technologies. so, we can expect a long adjustment process and a protracted recovery. the economy will need support for quite some time, and the bank will continue to do its part. but monetary policy alone can ’ t bring about a complete recovery. we all have a role to play to ensure the recovery is broad - based and sustained, with the benefits shared widely. this highlights the importance of targeted public policies, 6 a. barker, “ increasing inclusiveness for women, youth and seniors in canada, ” organisation for economic co - operation and development economics department working paper no. 1519 ( december 2018 ). 7 s. birinci, f. karahan, y. mercan and k. see, “ labor market policies during an epidemic, ” bank of canada staff working paper no. 2020 - 54 ( december 2020 ). - 10 businesses that invest in workers, and an education system that develops the skills needed in the 21st century. i look forward to working together to bring about this shared recovery. thank you.