Canada’s labour market is slowly coming back to health.

Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey report shows that employment rose by 1.8 percent—or about 290,000 jobs—in May. This comes as provinces gradually started reopening their economies and easing restrictions on social interactions.

Over the period from February to April, 5.5 million Canadians were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Three million of those were directly out of work, while a further 2.5 million identified as being absent from work. May’s employment gain combined with a reduction in the number of people who worked less than half of their usual hours therefore represents a job-market recovery of 10.6 percent for those affected by the pandemic.

Despite this news, the national unemployment rate ticked up in May. The rate now stands at 13.7 percent—the highest level since Statistics Canada began collecting such data in 1976. The agency says the total number of Canadians without jobs doubled between February and April. This surge, it says, was driven by temporary layoffs. Most people counted in this metric said they expected to return to their previous jobs within six months, rather than pursuing new work elsewhere.

May’s increase in unemployment—of 201,000—was driven by an increase in job seekers, and students in particular who are entering the summer labour market, and who must also show they are looking for work to be eligible for temporary economic-support measures.

The good news is that employers are starting to respond to the opening up of the economy in part by increasing the number of hours employees work.

Total hours worked across all industries grew by 6.3 percent in May. The increase worked followed a cumulative decline of 27.7 percent from February to April. Construction (19 percent) led the way among sectors that recorded more hours worked. Other services (13.2 percent); wholesale and retail trade (11.0 percent); manufacturing (10.9 percent); educational services (9.4 percent) and natural resources (9.2 percent) all recorded increases. In each case, the growth in total hours worked was greater than the growth in employment.

Construction and manufacturing were two of the industries that recorded the greatest job gains nationally in May. Construction employment rose by 73,700, while manufacturing rose by 79,100. Employment across the goods-producing sector, of which construction and manufacturing are components, rose by 164,700.

Ontario only province to record losses

Quebec recorded the greatest number of jobs gains (230,900) in May. Employment increases in that province were driven by the construction and wholesale and retail trade sectors. Ontario, meanwhile, was the only province to record job losses (of 65,000, or 1 percent) for the month. That finding was due in part to the fact that Statistics Canada’s labour force survey period concluded on May 16—immediately before Ontario enacted many return-to-work procedures.

May’s employment drop in Ontario was much slower than those recorded in March (-403,000) and April (-689,000). Ontario’s services-producing sector lost 80,000 jobs, while employment rose by 15,000 in the goods-producing sector, by 3,100 in construction, and by 13,700 in manufacturing.

“In another sign that the worst of the economic decline from COVID-19 is behind us, employment rose by 289,600 in May,” said Cory Renner, a senior economist with the Conference Board of Canada. “Given the survey dates didn’t coincide with much of Ontario’s gradual re-opening, employment growth will continue in June as restrictions are gradually eased across the country. Of course, even with the increase this month, employment remains well below where it was in February, and the road to recover the net 2.7 million jobs lost will be long.”