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He estimates 10 per cent of all businesses with paid employees in B.C. at the start of this year will be gone by the end of next year. “It takes time for companies to discover if they can make it work.”
“We’re going to see quite a bit of job destruction associated with business disruption in the coming months.”
Finlayson said double-digit unemployment rates will continue well into next year, and maybe longer.
A lot of businesses that are marginal, even at the best of times, are now hanging on by their fingertips, said Finlayson.
“I have a friend who owns three or four restaurants. He has reopened in-person dining, but it’s not clear that he’s going to be able to make that work,” he said, adding that surviving under the “new normal” means cutting capacity, but also spending more on cleaning and sanitizing to keep employees and customers safe.
