Stats Canada released their survey which showed an increase of 83,600 jobs in October, well below the gains in September of 378,000. The average monthly gains over the last six months have been 395,000.
The good news though is that most of the job gains in October were full time. The number of Canadians working from home increased by 150,000 as they adapt to the realities of Covid 19. 2.4 million Canadians are now working from home that didn’t before the virus.
The unemployment rate has changed just a little in October at 8.9% but even though normally a high number, it’s well below the peak in May of 13.7%. 540,000 people wanted to work in October but they didn’t search for a job, down 39,000 from September. This figure continues a downward trend. If those people were included in the unemployment figures, the unemployment rate in October would be 11.3%. Long term unemployed people who were looking for work increased in October and half of those are reporting that they are having trouble making ends meet.
The hardest hit sectors in the economy are as expected; accommodation and food services. For the first time since April, employment in these sectors have declined, probably because of the weather changing and reduced patio use. Employment in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industries has reduced more than any other sector from its pre-covid levels and the next few months will really show the impact given they rely heavily on travel and tourism, which of course is also down.
Construction has shown little change in employment for the third consecutive month following increases from April to July but it was still below its February levels in October. Housing stats show a 5% decline from September 2019 to September 2020.
With most of the increases in Ontario, retail trade has shown employment growth by 31,000 jobs. There was a decline from February to April because of the closures however, the second wave that we are currently experiencing didn’t require retail establishments to close. Employment in retail has been down by 5.1% from its pre-covid level and down by 2.4% from October 2019.
Three industries exceeded their pre-covid levels…. wholesale trade; professional, scientific and technical services; and educational services. Alberta drove the increases in the wholesale trade sector, Ontario led professional, scientific and technical services and educational services had little changes in October but has increased from its February levels. This was probably driven by increases in staffing requirements to support changes in the classroom and schools to accommodate pandemic protocols. Many of these positions will be temporary.
The bottom line is that we will not know the full impact of the virus on our economy and employment until we come to the end of the pandemic as it is expected to come in waves which will determine restrictions needed for its containment.
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