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Around half of Canadians have had their working life disrupted in some way because of the new coronavirus pandemic, including because they lost their job temporarily or permanently, a new poll from Forum Research Inc. suggests.

The April 13 survey by Forum found 49 per cent of those it reached reported COVID-19 had changed their employment status, compared to 51 per cent who said it had not.

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Out of those who responded there had been a change, however, 11 per cent said they had lost their job permanently and 40 per cent said they had lost it temporarily. Another 18 per cent reported they had their hours reduced and four per cent said their hours had increased.

I think these numbers can only grow going forward Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research

Those shifting circumstances are happening as a big majority of Canadians, 85 per cent, are concerned about COVID-19, Forum found. That’s up from 62 per cent at the beginning of March.

Getting 85 per cent of Canadians to agree on anything is “extremely rare,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, but such a consensus seems understandable given the plunge in employment and economic activity due to the pandemic. Canada’s unemployment rate shot up 2.2 percentage points to 7.8 per cent last month, according to Statistics Canada, as more than one million jobs were lost in March.