COVID and Unemployment in Canada: Data Analysis and Insights

Overview

This repository contains an analysis of labor force statistics in Canada, focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on employment trends across all provinces from January 1976 to January 2023. The dataset used in this analysis is available on Kaggle.

Dataset

• The dataset provides monthly labor statistics for all provinces of Canada from January 1976 to January 2023.
• It includes employment details such as:
  • Employment rates
  • Full-time and part-time employment
  • Labor force participation
  • Unemployment rates
  • Breakdown by age groups and sexes.

Data Preparation and Cleaning

• Loaded the dataset and explored its structure to understand the available data.
• Converted the date column to datetime format for easier manipulation.
• Checked for duplicate rows and missing values:
  • Imputed missing values for Full-time employment and Part-time employment for Canada by summing values from all other provinces for the same date.
  • Imputed missing values for Unemployment and Unemployment rate using the labor force and employment data.

Data Analysis

1. Trends Overview

• Unemployment Rate Trends:
  • General decrease in unemployment rates across all provinces over time.
  • Notable peak in unemployment during the COVID-19 period (beginning in early 2020).

2. Effect of COVID-19 on Employment

• Analyzed the effect of COVID-19 on different age groups and employment types using statistical tests.
• Conducted the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare employment metrics (Full-time employment, Part-time employment, Unemployment rate) before and during COVID-19.

3. Post-COVID Changes

• By the end of 2021, unemployment reached pre-COVID levels in Canada overall and in most provinces.
• Observed that post-COVID, the unemployment rates were generally lower than pre-COVID levels.
• Changes in employment structure: notable decrease in the number of part-time workers.

4. Effect on Different Age Groups

• Younger populations (15 to 24 years) were more affected by COVID-19, with higher unemployment rates during the pandemic.

Visualization and Statistical Analysis

• Data Visualization:

  • Created line plots to visualize unemployment rate trends by province and age group.
  • Focused on the period from January 2018 to January 2023 to highlight the impact of COVID-19.

• Statistical Tests:

  • Employed the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare pre-COVID and post-COVID employment metrics.
  • Determined the significance of changes in employment data across different provinces and age groups.