EOLC – Resilience and Recovery

Beyond the immediate disruption to healthcare systems, the COVID-19 pandemic is also causing major disruptions to the regional economy and labour market. In Eastern Ontario, this shock to the $85 billion/year economy and 570,000-strong labour market is already very serious, with potential debilitating consequences for the prospect of a rapid economic recovery (Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada, April 2020). The factors enabling a region to bounce back rapidly after economic or labour market shocks of this magnitude remain poorly understood. The objective of the project is to answer the following questions:
1. What does the academic literature tell us about factors creating resilience in a local/regional economy and labour market?
2. What are the mechanisms by which entrepreneurship and innovation confer greater resilience to a regional economy and job market?
3. What indicators might be used to assess resilience factors, especially entrepreneurship and innovation, and their contribution to a resilient economy?
4. How can those indicators be combined into a “resilience index” to assess and track the level of resilience of a regional economy and labour market?
5. What recommendations can be made to preserve or increase the degree of resilience in the regional economy?

Faculty Supervisor:

Jean-Baptiste Litrico

Student:

Partner:

Eastern Ontario Leadership Council

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Public administration

University:

Queen's University

Program: