Statistics Canada will release the official unemployment rate Friday, but if a report from an association that represents the foodservice sector is any indication, the jobless rate will be devastating.
Restaurants Canada represents restaurants across the country. Thursday, it said Ontario had suffered 300,000 job losses alone since March 1. More than 800,000 jobs have been lost across the country.
The association said that it is almost two-thirds of the industry's workforce.
A survey of its members revealed almost one in ten restaurants have shut down permanently, and another 18 percent may close within a month. It also said four out of five restaurants laid off staff last month.
"Not only was our industry among the first to feel the impacts of COVID-19, we've been one of the hardest hit," said Restaurants Canada President and CEO Shanna Munro. "In our 75 years of existence as Canada's national foodservice association, these are, by far, the worst numbers we have ever seen."
The foodservice industry represents four per cent of Ontario's Gross Domestic Product at $37 billion. Restaurants Canada believes foodservice sales will be down more than $7.7 billion in the second quarter of 2020.
"Without the steps already taken [by the Ontario and federal governments], the impacts on our industry would be even more devastating," said James Rillett, vice president, Central Canada.
The association said it is working with governments to strengthen actions already taken to protect jobs. Those actions include flexible arrangements with landlords to allow payment-free periods, and access to capital to reopen doors once the pandemic passes. It also would like to see an expansion of the qualifying conditions and the period to apply for the 75 per cent wage subsidy offered by the federal government to keep workers on the payroll.
Restaurants Canada surveyed its members between March 25 and March 29 and received 655 responses representing 13,300 locations.