Statistics Canada is reporting that the number of Canadians who worked from home during the final week of March totals 6.8 million.
That number represents 4 in 10 workers in the country or 39.1% of the workforce. 4.7 million of the total 6.8 million who worked from home do not usually do so.
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According to Stats Can's new web panel survey, which saw responses from more than 4,600 people across 10 provinces between March 29 and April 3, the number of people who "worked at locations other than home" was almost as large, with a total of 6.7 million workers, or 38.5% of the workforce, doing so. When combined, this equates to 13.5 million Canadians, or 77.6% of the workforce, working away from their office during the final week of March.
The report also found that working from home was more common for those with higher levels of education, with those who do not normally work from home but did so during the week of March 22 having a 58.4% likelihood of having a bachelor's degree or higher level of education than those who had continued to work outside the home (21.5%).
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Interestingly, 1 in 4 workers who did not usually work from home but did so during the final week of March also reported living with a child under the age of 18. Despite the fact that schools and daycares were closed in most – if not all – provinces by that point, the workers were "just as likely to report having good, very good or excellent mental health as those who usually work from home and those who continued to work at locations other than home."
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