To Be or Not To Be: The Relationship Between Economic Diversity and Unemployment Rates in Canadian Cities During the COVID-19 Induced Shock

Abstract

['UNSDG 1: No Poverty (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal1)', 'UNSDG 3: Good Health and Well-being (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3)', 'UNSDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8)']Viable, Healthy and Safe CommunitiesRegional scholars have broadly studied the role of economic structure in shielding a community from economic shocks. This research has generally involved comparing diversity against specialization. This study compares differences within varying degrees of economic diversity in Canadian cities. Canada has received very little attention in this field despite the importance this knowledge could provide in shaping Canadian economic policy. This paper aims to fill in this gap by analyzing the role economic diversity played in acting as a structural buffer to the COVID-19-induced economic shock. This analysis is done utilizing a Herfindahl Hirschman Index to measure economic diversity and explore its relationship with unemployment in 24 Canadian cities between 2019 and 2021. This paper finds that both regions with a high and low degree of economic diversity experienced a similar level of unemployment