A new study by the Fraser Institute showed a drop in GDP and employment levels across Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic..“While all provinces were hurt by COVID and the measures to manage it, some weathered the economic storm better than others,” said Livio Di Matteo, professor of economics at Lakehead University, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, and author of Storm without End: The Economic and Fiscal Impact of COVID in Canada..In 2020, Alberta experienced the steepest decline in economic activity with GDP dropping 8% while British Columbia only dropped 4%..Going into the pandemic because of low energy prices, in 2018 and 2019, Alberta had a GDP of 1.9% and .1%, while Saskatchewan had 1.2% and -.7% respectively..The International Monetary Fund estimated that Canada’s 2020 GDP shrunk by 5.2%, after the second quarter GDP dropped 11% but rebounded in the third and fourth quarters..In 2021, BC and Manitoba had the biggest economic rebound at 6% followed by Alberta and Saskatchewan at 5%.. Fraser Institute Change in Provincial GDP .In 2020, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and BC fared better with only “modest employment declines” compared to Eastern Canada..The largest drop in Western Canada employment was in British Columbia at 15.4%, followed by Alberta at 15.1%, Manitoba at 13.8%, and Saskatchewan at 13%..However, the Western provinces had the lowest unemployment rates by January 2022, with British Columbia and Manitoba the lowest at 5.1%, followed by Saskatchewan at 5.5%, and Alberta at 6.8%..The Western Canadian provinces all rebounded by January 2022 to employment levels above where they were prior to going into the pandemic in January 2020..BC led the way with an increase of 2.3%, followed by Alberta at 1.7%, Manitoba at .4%, and Saskatchewan at 0.1%..“The economic costs of COVID will likely be long-lasting as Canada struggles to fully recover,” said Di Matteo..The Fraser Institute is an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think tank.
