Canada sheds more than 200,000 jobs in April as third-wave lockdowns bite - Financial Post

Worse than economists had expected

Author of the article:

Bianca Bharti

Publishing date:

May 07, 2021  •  6 hours ago  •  1 minute read  •  97 Comments

The labour market has been hit by the impact of fresh restrictions imposed to curb a harsh third wave of COVID-19. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

Article content

Government-enforced restrictions across various provinces in April blew out job gains from previous months as a worsening third wave hit front-facing industries again.

Nationally, employment fell by 1.1 per cent, a loss of 207,000 jobs, while unemployment increased by 0.6 percentage points to 8.1 per cent last month, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Following two months of promising gains, the employment decline was worse than economists’ expectations who had estimated a loss of 160,000 jobs.

The number of people working less than half their usual hours increased by 27 per cent from March to 288,000.

Ontario, grappling with a vicious resurgence of COVID-19, lost 153,000 jobs while British Columbia, under its “circuit breaker” restrictions, saw a decline 43,000.

Pandemic restrictions that tend to limit high-contact services meant retail, food services, information, culture and recreation sectors were hit the hardest, losing a combined 169,000 jobs in April.

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Canada sheds more than 200,000 jobs in April as third-wave lockdowns bite - Financial Post
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