Canada’s labour market shed 68,000 jobs last month as tighter public health restrictions continued or were introduced in many regions of the country to slow the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey data released Friday shows the employment rate was 8.2 per cent, up from 8.1 per cent in April.
Most of the jobs┬аlost, 54,000, were part-time, following a drop of 78,000 in April.
Ontario and Nova Scotia were the only provinces to register employment declines in total employment. The Statistics Canada report said┬аthe extension to Ontario’s stay-at-home order accounted for most of the employment decline. The drop in Nova Scotia was largely due to the province┬аentering lockdown at the end of April.
Ontario’s┬аjobless rate was pegged at┬а9.3 per cent, up from 9.0 per cent in April.┬аNova Scotia’s rate was 9.8 per cent, up from┬а8.1 per cent.┬аEmployment increased in Saskatchewan тАФ┬аits jobless rate was 6.3 per cent, down form┬а6.6 per cent┬атАФ while there was little change in all other provinces.
The number of people working in manufacturing fell by┬а36,000, down two per cent, making that the first such decline in the industry since April┬а2020, the labour force survey found. Ontario and Quebec accounted for the majority of the overall decline in the sector.
