Uncertainty looms across the country as the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic pushes the economy toward a recession that some expect to be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. With more than two in five households out of work, nearly every Canadian has taken a financial hit, and those who haven’t are living in fear of the possibility that they soon might.
For young workers who’ve been laid off with little in the way of accumulated emergency savings to fall back on, things may feel scarier than they’ve ever been. The saving grace, says Shannon Lee Simmons, founder and certified financial planner at the New School of Finance in Toronto, is the newly announced Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
CERB offers a monthly $2,000 payment for a period of up to 16 weeks for those who wouldn’t otherwise be eligible for Employment Insurance. Though the regulations around who’s eligible for EI are opaque, as a general rule, EI is designated for Canadians who’ve lost their job through no fault of their own (those who believe they might be but aren’t sure are typically encouraged to apply anyway).
The criteria for CERB qualification are much broader. Any Canadian who has ceased working for a 14-day period due to COVID-19 is eligible. That includes wage earners, contract workers, or self-employed individuals; those who’ve had to stay home without pay to self-isolate or care for loved ones; and anyone else who hasn’t been permanently laid off but has stopped receiving pay cheques.
The CERB application portal is slated to open on April 6, while those who are eligible for EI can currently apply on the Government of Canada website.
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Source: The Canadian Press