A sign indicates directions to a COVID-19 test centre in Montreal on April 5, 2020.
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
More than one million people in Canada lost their jobs in March and the unemployment rate climbed to 7.8 per cent, reflecting the first wave of layoffs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The March job losses easily surpassed a record one-month decline set in January of 2009 – when employment dropped by roughly 125,000 – according to Labour Force Survey data from Statistics Canada that dates back to 1976. March also saw the largest one-month increase of the country’s jobless rate, which had been 5.6 per cent in February.
Record-setting job losses were widely anticipated in Thursday’s report. Statscan surveyed households on labour conditions between March 15 and 21, which overlapped with many companies shutting their doors and laying off staff as COVID-19 started to upend the economy.
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Among those employed between March 15 and 21, roughly 2.1 million people either didn’t work any hours or worked less than half their usual hours.
“These increases in absences from work can be attributed to COVID-19 and bring the total number of Canadians who were affected by either job loss or reduced hours to 3.1 million,” Statscan said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday warned the jobs report would be ugly. “It’s going to be a hard day for the country,” he said.
Since Statscan’s survey week, layoffs have intensified as governments have implemented tighter restrictions on business operations and social interactions to curb the virus’s growth. Since March 16, more than 5 million Canadians have applied for emergency financial assistance with the federal government, a sign of unprecedented labour disruption.
As such, the April labour report (released early next month) is widely expected to show even worse job-loss figures.
Thursday’s report showed the employment rate declined to 58.5 per cent from February’s 61.8 per cent, while the labour participation rate – the percentage of people either working or looking for a job – declined to 63.5 per cent in March from 65.5 per cent.
Ontario experienced the largest job losses in raw numbers, with the number of employed people declining by about 403,000, followed by Quebec at 264,000 and British Columbia at 132,000.
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As expected, the accommodation and food services sector was hit hard, with nearly 300,000 people losing their jobs, a decline of 24 per cent. The information, culture and recreation sector lost 13.3 per cent of its employment, while educational services dropped 9.1 per cent.
Employment among youth aged 15 to 24 decreased by nearly 400,000 or 15.4 per cent.
Among the roughly one million people who lost employment, there was a near even split of those who joined the ranks of the unemployed and those who dropped out of the labour force.
The distinction between people who are unemployed or not in the labour force is particularly important within the context of COVID-19.
According to the LFS, the unemployed includes those who are available for work and have looked for employment in the past four weeks, along with those on temporary layoff who expect to rejoin their employer. It also includes those who are set to start a job within four weeks.
Given those stipulations, many workers affected by COVID-19 are not officially considered unemployed. For instance, a jobless parent who’s suddenly handling home-school and daycare duties, and thus isn’t available to work, is not considered unemployed. Nor is the jobless person who’s stopped looking for work because their industry has stopped hiring.
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Instead, they are considered to be not in the labour force.
The federal government recently unveiled a program that will subsidize wages for eligible companies by up to 75 per cent, to a maximum of $847 per week per employee. Some companies, such as Air Canada and WestJet Airlines, will use the program to bring back workers. However, the extent to which the wage-subsidy program dampens layoffs or encourages rehiring remains to be seen.
With unemployment skyrocketing during the coronavirus pandemic, personal finance columnist Rob Carrick offers some tips on how to deal with creditors and make a bare-bones budget.The Globe and Mail
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OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
