Employment grows by 246,000 in August
The national economy added almost one quarter of a million jobs in August, bringing the labour market to within 1.1 million jobs (or 5.7 percent) of its pre-COVID level.
Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for August, shows the economy added 246,000 jobs for the month. This represented a significant slowdown from the 419,000 jobs added in July
The number of Canadians who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to COVID-19 fell by 259,000 (-14.6 percent) in August. Combined with declines in May, June and July, this left COVID-related absences from work at 713,000 (+88.3 percent) above February levels.
As of the week of August 9 to 15, the number of workers affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown stood at 1.8 million. In April, this number reached a peak of 5.5 million, including a 3 million drop in employment and a 2.5 million increase in COVID-related absences from work.
According to Cory Renner, a senior economist at the Conference Board of Canada, it may take some time for those who remain out of work to return to employment.
“With restrictions largely lifted across the country, slower employment growth will be the norm through the recovery,” he said. “While Canada has recovered 1.9 million of the 3 million jobs lost during the pandemic, the remaining 1.1. million yet to be recovered are likely facing more structural problems. This means many of those jobs may never come back, and the recovery should now focus on creating jobs in other segments of the economy with a brighter future”
As the jobs market returns to near normal, the national unemployment rate is also declining. Statistics Canada shows a drop in unemployment of 0.7 percent for the month—down to 10.2 percent. That figure still represents a significant departure from the pre-COVID rate of 5.6 percent recorded in February, but remains an improvement over the pandemic peak of 13.7 percent recorded in May.
By way of comparison, during the 2008–09 recession, the unemployment rate rose from 6.2 percent in October 2008 to a peak of 8.7 percent in June 2009. It took approximately nine years before it returned to its pre-recession rate.
The number of unemployed Canadians declined for the third consecutive month, falling by 137,000, or 6.3 percent, in August to just over 2.0 million. Nevertheless, this was well above the previous record high of 1.7 million in November 1992 during the recession of the early 1990s.
After months of strong hiring activity, construction employers pushed pause on job gains in August. The industry added just 4,500 jobs in August—an increase of 0.3 percent. That figure was a significant drop from the gains recorded by the industry in May, (6.3 percent), June (6.7 percent) and July (2.5 percent). The good news is that even with the slower hiring in August, construction is now within 92 percent of its pre-pandemic workforce levels.
Year over year, the number of workers employed in construction is down 103,700 (7 percent) from August 2019.
Statistics Canada’s data shows employment increased in every province except Alberta and New Brunswick. Ontario and Quebec recorded the largest gains for the month.
Employment in Ontario rose by 142,000 (+2.0 percent), nearly all in full-time work, while the unemployment rate fell by 0.7 percentage points to 10.6 percent. Combined with the employment increases in June and July (+529,000), the gains in August brought employment in Ontario to within 93.6 percent of its pre-pandemic level.
Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, called the province’s August employment numbers “a notable milestone.”
“While these numbers are positive, we have a long way to go to achieve a full economic recovery,” he said. “As the fall approaches, we will continue to work with our world-class entrepreneurs and innovators, and prioritize made-in-Ontario solutions so that we can shape a sustainable economic climate that will benefit all Ontarians in every region of the province.”