Canada’s economy added 31,000 jobs last month, well down from September’s level and below what economists were expecting but enough to push the jobless rate down by two ticks to 6.7 per cent.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that the jobs number only expanded by 0.2 per cent in October.
The retail sector added 72,000 jobs, while the accommodation and food services sector continues to lose them, shedding another 27,000 jobs during the month. Those sectors have been hardest hit by the pandemic because of their reliance on in-person contact, and they continue to be volatile.
While overall, Canada’s economy has more jobs than it did before the pandemic started in 2020, the numbers show that the employment recovery is uneven and running out of steam.
Only two provinces added significant jobs: Ontario (up 37,000) and New Brunwick (up 3,000).
Saskatchewan lost 6,500 jobs while Manitoba lost 3,100. Everywhere else the job market was basically unchanged.
The data agency also says there is a large and persistent cohort of people who are what’s known as long-term unemployed, meaning they haven’t had a job for more than half a year.
That number held steady at 378,000 people in October. That’s down from a peak of 486,000 in the middle of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April, but still enough that it means more than one quarter of the jobless people in Canada are now considered long-term unemployed.
Before the pandemic, only 15 per cent of jobless workers stayed that way for more than half a year.
More Stories
Fair share: the right office solution can take finding the right partner
Ontario faces crew shortages, aircraft issues in fight against wildfires | Globalnews.ca
Refugee attends open house at Downtown Eastside affordable housing facility – BC | Globalnews.ca