ADP Canada’s National Employment Report for March shows that non-farm employment in Canada dropped by 177,300 jobs—further evidence, says the organization, of the worsening effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The effects of COVID-19 are clear, as the labour market experienced relatively strong losses in many sectors across the board,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Trade, transportation and utilities, leisure and hospitality and professional businesses services were the hardest hit sectors. While the health care sector experienced growth, social distancing has paused non-emergency and non-essential services, which will show its effects over time.”

Those sectors hit hardest by job losses include trade/transportation and utilities (-55,700), leisure and hospitality (-35,800), and education services (-26,000). Construction lost 8,400 jobs.

Highlights of the March report include:

• Manufacturing: -15,800
• Construction: -8,400
• Natural Resources and Mining: -3,600
• Trade/Transportation and Utilities: -55,700
• Information: -800
• Finance/Real Estate: -13,800
• Professional/Business Services: -21,100
• Educational Services: -26,600
• Health Care: 11,700
• Leisure and Hospitality: -35,800

The ADP report measures the change in total Canada nonfarm payroll employment derived from payroll data of companies served by ADP Canada. It measures more than two million workers in Canada.

The news from ADP comes shortly after Statistics Canada released its Labour Force Survey for March. The government agency reported job losses of more than one million for the month—the greatest single-month drop in employment since it began tracking the metric in 1976.