Podcast: What the decision whether to reopen schools this fall means for the recovery

The economic recovery is about more than whether the oil sector recovers, whether people resume air travel, or even whether neighborhood bars and restaurants open. For many people, the ability to return to the workforce will depend on whether childcare centres and schools reopen.

On this week’s Down to Business, as part of our series on Reopening Canada, Clementine Van Effenterre, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Toronto, spoke about her research on the economics of labour and gender to explain how the decision on whether to reopen schools this fall could shape the recovery.

Van Effenterre, a former student of the famous French Economist Thomas Piketty, and a dynamic scholar in her own right, marshalled an array of real examples and data that show ways that the pandemic is affecting working families.