Canada reclaimed almost 1 million jobs of those lost to the coronavirus pandemic, a promising start to what’s expected to be an arduous recovery.
Employment rose by 952,900 in June as lockdown restrictions began to ease, Statistics Canada reported on Friday, adding to the 290,000 jobs created in May. The two-month total represents just over 40 per cent of the 3 million lost in March and April, when mandatory business closures were imposed.
June’s better-than-expected reading will ease concern about how long-lasting the damage from the pandemic will be. But economists warn it could still take years before things return to normal. The Bank of Canada will give new estimates for the outlook when it releases its quarterly Monetary Policy Report on Wednesday.
“While today’s numbers are encouraging, there are almost 1.8 million lost jobs yet to be recovered,” Brian DePratto, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, wrote in a note. “It is still a long way to the finish line.”
Services-related sectors were responsible for 794,400 of the increase in June, led by retailers and food businesses. The natural resources sector led losses, with about 5,500 new positions eliminated. Gains were about evenly split between full time and part time, with 488,100 and 464,800 added jobs, respectively.
The numbers also reflect gradual reopenings in Ontario and Quebec. Canada’s two most-populous provinces made up two thirds of the June job gains. Ontario, the only province not to post an increase in May, saw an increase of 378,000 positions.
“An unambiguously strong print, with good breadth across sectors and regions,” Brett House, deputy chief economist at Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto, said by email. “Almost all of the gains were in payroll jobs and in the private sector, so the quality of the numbers is high.”
Canada’s currency was little changed on the report, trading at $1.3589 against its U.S. counterpart at 11:09 a.m. Toronto time. Two-year government bond yields were also little changed.
Bounce Back?
As impressive as the the employment jump is, the Canadian economy is still digging itself out of a deep hole. While the unemployment rate fell to 12.3 per cent in June, that’s still near historically elevated levels. The 13.7 per cent jobless rate in May was the highest since the Great Depression.
Hours worked rose 9.8 per cent in June, but were still 16 per cent below February levels.
What Bloomberg’s Economists Say
“Canada reported another month of stronger-than-expected job gains in June, underscoring the potential for a quick return to work as the nation shows relative success in taming Covid-19.”
–Andrew Husby, Bloomberg Economics
The number of Canadians still employed but whose hours have been significantly cut fell by 823,000 in June. That brings the number of Canadians who either lost their job or worked substantially fewer hours to 3.1 million in June, from about 5.5 million in April.
“While we expect further ground to be recovered in the months ahead, the speed is likely to slow and it could turn out to be a bumpy ride along the way,” Royce Mendes, an economist at CIBC World Markets, said in a report to investors.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
