Canada gains 246,000 jobs in August

Ontario and Quebec have the “largest gains,” with their employment rising by 142,000 and 54,000, respectively. (Photo: @freetousesoundscom/Unsplash)

As it continues to bounce back from the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Canada keeps on seeing developments in its employment.

Statistics Canada showed in its Labour Force Survey (LFS) on Friday, September 4, that the country added 246,000 jobs in August.

“Combined with gains of 1.2 million in May and June, this brought employment to within 1.1 million (-5.7%) of its pre-COVID February level,” the survey read.

The agency noted that employment for full-time positions rose by 206,000, while part-time positions were “little changed.”

The portion of employed Canadians but are working less than half their usual hours, probably because of COVID-19-related reasons, also declined by 259,000.

“Combined with declines in May, June and July, this left COVID-related absences from work at 713,000 (+88.3%) above February levels,” it said.

Meanwhile, from 10.9 percent in July, the unemployment rate in August was recorded at 10.2 percent. According to the survey, the number of people who wanted to work but did not look for a job indicated a “little change” in August. However, if this is included as unemployed, the unemployment rate would probably be at 13.0 percent.

Employment in most provinces has increased, but not in Alberta and New Brunswick.

Ontario and Quebec have the “largest gains,” with their employment rising by 142,000 and 54,000, respectively. British Columbia reported its “largest increase” with 15,000 jobs, while Nova Scotia had the “largest employment gain,” with 7,200, in Atlantic Canada.

This is the fourth consecutive time that there was an increase in Canada’s employment since it fell by nearly two million in April due to the closure of businesses. The country started to add 290,000 jobs in May, 953,000 in June, and 419,000 in July.

In a series of Tweets, Carla Qualtrough, the minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion, said that the latest figure shows how ‘hard-working’ and ‘resilient’ Canadians are amid the pandemic and that the government’s measures are “working.”

These job numbers are a testament to the hard work and resiliency of Canadians in the face of this pandemic, and show that the measures our government have put into place are working as our economy gradually and safely restarts.

— Carla Qualtrough (@CQualtro) September 4, 2020