January’s losses dragged Canada’s employment down to its lowest level since August, and came on the heels of the country dropping another 53,000 jobs or so in December. The unemployment rate worsened by 0.6 percentage points in January, rising to 9.4 per cent.
“The deck was stacked against the Canadian job market this January,” said Brendon Bernard, economist at job-search website Indeed Canada. “A jump in post-holiday COVD-19 cases, new restrictions on activity, and a shift to online schooling all led employment back down.” In particular, employment in lockdown-affected industries such as retail and food services was walloped. Meanwhile, StatsCan noted that “a number of industries with a high proportion of full-time employment,” such as finance, insurance and real estate, have bounced back to their pre-COVID-19 levels of unemployment, and were relatively unscathed in January.
Nova Scotia just easing restrictions... Follow the rules, get time in the yard! Maybe, get out with good behaviour! Don't follow the rules, get time in the box!