Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Regional and Community-level Database Version 2.0

Released: 2021-11-16

The peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic during fall 2020 led to temporary business restrictions and closures across Canada. In response, affected businesses continued to make use of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program to help prevent further job losses. The CEWS program is organized by CEWS claim periods set up by the Canada Revenue Agency. A CEWS claim period is the four-week period for which an eligible employer can claim the wage subsidy for their employees.

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Regional and Community-level Database Version 2.0 includes approved claims from CEWS periods 9 to 11, spanning October 25, 2020 to January 16, 2021 and the information previously published in Version 1.0 of the database for the first eight CEWS periods, covering March 15, 2020 to October 24, 2021.

Periods 9 to 11 show a general decrease in the total amount of approved CEWS claims, a trend since period 3 as the Canadian economy continued to adapt to the pandemic. Over $10.1 billion of CEWS claims were approved in periods 9 to 11, of which 10.5%, or just over $1 billion, were claimed by rural businesses. These subsidies supported nearly 4.2 million employees on average per period, including over 433,000 rural workers on average for each period. By way of comparison, urban businesses received $9 billion in wage subsidies over the same claim periods, supporting 3.75 million urban employees on average.

The manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share of CEWS payments for both rural and urban businesses for periods 9 to 11, comprising 16.8% and 15.1% of claim amounts. Among rural businesses, the manufacturing sector was followed by the construction (15.1%) and accommodation and food services (12.4%) sectors. For urban businesses, the construction (11.8%) and accommodation and food services (10.2%) sectors similarly accounted for the second and third largest shares of CEWS payments.

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Regional and Community-level Database Version 2.0 may be downloaded as a CSV file, along with its metadata documentation. The database includes variables on the amount of approved CEWS claims (in dollars), number of CEWS-supported employees and other variables of interest at subprovincial levels of geography, including rural and urban breakdowns and breakdowns by industry sector and subsector.

Products

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Regional and Community-level Database Version 2.0 is now available.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).