Canadian Employment Increases in November as Unemployment Declines

Statistics Canada is reporting today (12/4) that employment in Canada increased by 62,000 (+0.3%) in November, following an increase of 84,000 (+0.5%) in October. From May to September employment in Canada grew by an average of 2.7% per month. The unemployment rate in November was 8.5%, down 0.4 percentage points from October. The report indicates that employment growth continued to vary across industries in November. With employment falling in industries most directly affected by public health restrictions, notably in accommodation and food services. On the other hand, employment continued to approach or exceed pre-COVID levels in industries where working from home or physical distancing was more feasible, such as professional, scientific and technical services. In November full-time employment rose by 99,000 (+0.7%), while part-time work was little changed. Compared with pre-COVID February levels, full-time employment was down -2.9%, compared with a decrease of -3.3% for part-time work. In November the COVID-19 economic shutdown had directly impacted 1.0 million Canadian workers, including 547,000 (-3.0%) drop in employment since February and a 448,000 (+55.5%) increase since February in Canadians who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours.