Employment across the country continues to make its way back to pre-pandemic levels.

The latest Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Canada shows that the country added 378,000 jobs, or 2.1 percent in September. The increase follows a jump of 1.4 percent in August, and brought employment to within 720,000 (-3.7 percent) of its pre-COVID level.

The number of Canadians who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to COVID-19 fell by 108,000 (-7.1 percent) in September. Combined with the declines from May to August, this left COVID-related absences from work at 605,000 (+74.9 percent) above February levels.

During the survey reference week of September 13 to 19, the total number of workers affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown stood at 1.3 million. In April, this number peaked at 5.5 million, including a 3.0 million drop in employment and a COVID-related increase of 2.5 million absences from work.

There were 1.8 million unemployed Canadians in September, down 214,000 (-10.5 percent) from August and continuing the four-month downward trend from the record-high 2.6 million unemployed people in May.

Compared with February, total employment was down 720,000 (-3.7 percent). Three-quarters of this decline came from four industries: accommodation and food services, retail trade, construction, and transportation and warehousing.

“National employment levels continued their recovery at a stronger pace in September,” said Conference Board of Canada economist, Kiefer Van Mulligen. “However, the impact of reinstated public health measures in some provinces throughout the last month may not be fully reflected in September’s data. Uncertainty remains high over how strong the recovery in employment will be. With new cases of COVID-19 rising in many provinces, some industries will likely experience a second decline (or much slower recovery) in the coming months.”

Construction faces long road back

Employment in construction lost 7,000 jobs nationally in September, and was down by 120,000 (-8.1 percent) compared with its pre-COVID level. Compared with February, employment in construction was down the most in Ontario (-54,000; -9.5 percent) and British Columbia (-39,000; -16.3 percent).

Construction consists of three subsectors: construction of buildings, heavy and civil engineering construction, and specialty trade contractors. According to the latest results from the Survey of Employment Payrolls and Hours, employment in construction fell from February to July in each of these subsectors, with the largest decline among specialty trade contractors. Results from the release of investment in building construction for July showed that investment in building construction was slightly lower in July than in February.

Ontario records significant employment gains

Employment increased in every province except New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in September, with the largest gains in Ontario and Quebec.

Employment in Ontario increased by 168,000 in September (+2.4 percent), largely in full-time work, and building on gains of 670,000 over the previous three months. The largest employment gains in September were in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, and educational services. The unemployment rate fell 1.1 percentage points to 9.5 percent, the fourth consecutive monthly decline.

During the LFS reference week, all regions of Ontario were in Stage 3 reopening. However, those figures will change in the October LFS after the Ontario government mandated the closure of many types of businesses on October 10.