OTTAWA —
Canada posted its first monthly decline in jobs since April amid tightened public health restrictions in December, and economists warn the losses are likely to continue in January as the number of new COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
Statistics Canada said Friday the economy lost 63,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate edged up to 8.6 per cent compared with 8.5 per cent in November.
“Due to both the continuing rise in virus cases to open the new year and the further curtailments of activity since the last survey, another month of job losses could be on the horizon in January,” CIBC senior economist Royce Mendes said.
“The weak jobs report, combined with the recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar, will put pressure on the Bank of Canada to ease monetary policy further.”
Statistics Canada said its report was a snapshot of labour market conditions for the week of Dec. 6 to 12. It noted that additional public health measures were put in place in many provinces after that period and would likely to be reflected in its January labour force survey results.
Several provinces have also further extended COVID-19 restrictions as public health officials blamed holiday gatherings for a rise in infections.
TD Bank senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam said the resurgence of the virus is hitting Canada hard.
“Sharp increases in caseloads and hospitalizations are leaving provinces with little choice but to impose or prolong restrictions on an economy that is but a shadow of itself,” Thanabalasingam wrote in a report.
“It will be a rocky road for the Canadian economy until vaccines can be widely distributed and normal life can resume.”
Mendes noted that when the restrictions began to ease last spring and summer, the rebound in the economy came quickly.
“The good news is that last summer we saw a pretty sharp snapback at a time when virus cases were low and public health restrictions were eased, so that should give people some optimism that after this rough patch is hopefully behind us, the economy can bounce back quite well in the short-term,” he said.
The job losses in December ended a streak of monthly job gains that began in May, when initial restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the pandemic began to ease.
Full-time employment in December rose by 36,500, but there was a loss of 99,000 part-time jobs.
Statistics Canada said that total hours worked fell for the first time since April as they declined 0.3 per cent in December.
By April last year the COVID-19 economic shutdown had directly affected 5.5 million Canadian workers, including 3.0 million who had lost their job and 2.5 million who were employed but had experienced COVID-related absences from work.
The number affected was 1.1 million in December, including a drop in employment of 636,000 since February and 488,000 more Canadians who were employed but working less than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to COVID.
December employment fell in industries most directly affected by the new and continuing public health measures.
The number of jobs in the services-producing side of the economy fell for the first time since April as it lost a total of 74,000 in December. The goods-producing sector gained 11,300 jobs.
The accommodation and food services industry lost 56,700 jobs for the month, while the “other services” category, which includes hair salons, laundry services and other areas affected by public health measures, lost 30,800. The information, culture and recreation group lost 18,800.
However, the manufacturing sector gained 15,000 jobs in December, driven by an increase in Ontario.
The share of Canadians working from home was 28.6 per cent in December.
Financial data firm Refinitiv says economists on average had expected the report to show a loss of 27,500 jobs for December. The unemployment rate was expected to be 8.6 per cent.
Here’s a quick look at Canada’s December employment (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
Unemployment rate: 8.6 per cent (8.5)
Employment rate: 59.3 per cent (59.5)
Participation rate: 64.9 per cent (65.1)
Number unemployed: 1,755,800 (1,735,200)
Number working: 18,553,000 (18,615,600)
Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 17.7 per cent (17.4)
Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 7.5 per cent (7.4)
Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 6.9 per cent (6.8)
Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
Newfoundland and Labrador 12.3 per cent (12.2)
Prince Edward Island 10.1 per cent (10.2)
Nova Scotia 8.6 per cent (6.4)
New Brunswick 9.3 per cent (9.6)
Quebec 6.7 per cent (7.2)
Ontario 9.5 per cent (9.1)
Manitoba 8.2 per cent (7.4)
Saskatchewan 7.8 per cent (6.9)
Alberta 11.0 per cent (11.1)
British Columbia 7.2 per cent (7.1)
Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
St. John’s, N.L. 8.7 per cent (9.3)
Halifax 7.3 per cent (6.6)
Moncton, N.B. 9.0 per cent (8.9)
Saint John, N.B. 11.0 per cent (10.2)
Saguenay, Que. 5.7 per cent (5.2)
Quebec City 4.1 per cent (4.3)
Sherbrooke, Que. 6.0 per cent (6.4)
Trois-Rivieres, Que. 5.9 per cent (5.7)
Montreal 8.1 per cent (8.5)
Gatineau, Que. 7.0 per cent (7.2)
Ottawa 6.6 per cent (7.1)
Kingston, Ont. 5.9 per cent (7.2)
Peterborough, Ont. 13.5 per cent (11.9)
Oshawa, Ont. 7.8 per cent (7.9)
Toronto 10.7 per cent (10.7)
Hamilton, Ont. 8.1 per cent (8.0)
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 9.1 per cent (7.2)
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 8.5 per cent (9.1)
Brantford, Ont. 6.1 per cent (6.6)
Guelph, Ont. 5.8 per cent (7.0)
London, Ont. 7.7 per cent (8.4)
Windsor, Ont. 11.1 per cent (10.6)
Barrie, Ont. 12.1 per cent (10.6)
Greater Sudbury, Ont. 7.7 per cent (7.6)
Thunder Bay, Ont. 7.6 per cent (7.5)
Winnipeg 8.4 per cent (8.1)
Regina 6.3 per cent (5.4)
Saskatoon 8.1 per cent (7.8)
Calgary 10.4 per cent (10.7)
Edmonton 11.1 per cent (11.3)
Kelowna, B.C. 4.5 per cent (4.7)
Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. 8.4 per cent (8.1)
Vancouver 7.4 per cent (8.1)
Victoria 5.8 per cent (6.3)
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2021
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
