Canadian Unemployment Falls to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (3-11-22) that employment increased by 337,000 (1.8%) in February, more than offsetting losses that coincided with stricter public health measures in January. The unemployment rate dropped 1.0 percentage points to 5.5% in February 2022, lower than in February 2020 (5.7%) and similar to the record low (5.4%) observed in May 2019.

Employment gains in February were most notable in the accommodation and food services (+114,000; +12.6%) and information, culture, and recreation (+73,000; +9.9%) industries. Employment increases were widespread across provinces and demographic groups.

There were 1.14 million unemployed people in February, down 206,000 (-15.4%) from January. More than half of the decline in February was due to a decrease in the number of people who were on temporary layoff or who had arrangements to start a job in the near future (-123,000; -58.0%). This is the same group that drove the increase in unemployment in January, in the face of tightened public health restrictions. Among people who were on temporary layoff in January, nearly 7 in 10 became employed in February (67.8%, not seasonally adjusted). The number of job searchers also fell, down by 83,000 (-7.4%) in February.

The number of Canadians who had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more fell for the fourth consecutive month in February, down by 51,000 to 212,000. Following this drop, long-term unemployment was 32,000 higher than in February 2020.