TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2020) Canada's job market recovery is slowing amid the onset of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal statistics agency said on Friday.
"Employment rose by 62,000 (+0.3%) in November, following an increase of 84,000 (+0.5%) in October. From May to September, employment grew by an average of 2.7% per month," Statistics Canada said in its monthly jobs report.
The agency cites re-imposed public health restrictions as an explanation for the stall, albeit noting that employment gains are being made in industries where remote work or physical distancing is possible. Approximately 4.6 million Canadians worked from home in November, up 250,000 from October, Statistics Canada said.
The recorded employment gains were on the strength of 99,000 full-time vacancies, an increase of 0.7%, the report said.
Overall, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percent to 8.5 percent in November, although Canada retains the second highest jobless rate in the G7 and is at least 1 percent higher than the OECD average. The federal statistics agency noted over 1 million workers have not returned to their normal work schedules since February, including a 574,000 who have not returned to work and 448,000 worked less than half of their usual hours.
In comparison, according to employment figures released by the Labor Department on Friday, the US economy gained 245,000 million jobs in November, bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.7 percent.
Canada's economy remains in a precarious position with the number of COVID-19 infections doubling in the span of little more than a month to nearly 400,000 and many jurisdictions either suspending or scaling back reopening plans.
