OTTAWA —
Canada clawed back 289,600 jobs in May as provincial governments began easing public health restrictions and businesses reopened, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Still, the unemployment rate in May rose to 13.7 per cent, the highest level in more than four decades of comparable data.
The increase in the unemployment rate, which topped the previous record of 13.1 per cent set in December 1982, came as more people started looking for work.
The monthly labour force survey showed that men gained back more jobs than women in May, resulting in a wider gender gap in employment losses as a result of COVID-19, and that the pandemic continued to disproportionately affect lower-wage workers.
The increase in the number of jobs — which mirrored a similar bump in the U.S. — came after three million jobs were lost over March and April and about 2.5 million more had their hours slashed.
Statistics Canada said the number of people who worked less than half their usual hours fell by 292,000 in May.
Combined with the increase in jobs, Statistics Canada said the country recovered 10.6 per cent of employment losses and absences related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The rise in the overall unemployment to 13.7 per cent, the highest on record, shouldn’t be taken as a sign of underlying weakness, since it simply represents more out-of-work Canadians stating that they are now looking for work,” CIBC senior economist Royce Mendes wrote in a note.
“The surprisingly positive readings on employment paint a more optimistic picture of the early part of the recovery, but there’s still a long road back.”
Provincially, Quebec led the way, gaining 231,000 jobs as it became one of the first provinces to ease restrictions, doing so just before Statistics Canada collected data the week of May 10.
Combined with people working more hours, the province recovered nearly 30 per cent of what it lost in March and April.
Similarly, all four provinces in Atlantic Canada posted jobs gains in May. Western provinces posted gains except for Saskatchewan, which saw little overall change in employment, Statistics Canada said.
Losses continued in Ontario although at a slower pace than in March and April. The provincial unemployment rate rose to 13.6 per cent in May, up from 11.3 per cent in April.
The total number of unemployed Canadians doubled from February to April, a surge driven by temporary layoffs that the vast majority of workers expected to last less than six months.
At the same time, there was a spike in the number of people who wanted to work but weren’t actively looking for a job, likely because the economic shutdown has limited job opportunities. People not actively seeking work aren’t counted in unemployment figures.
The unemployment rate for May would have been 19.6 per cent had the report counted among the unemployed those who stopped looking for work — largely unchanged since April.
TD senior economist Brian DePratto noted that close to 90 per cent of those who lost work over March and April are still sitting on the sidelines.
Lower-wage workers were among the first and hardest hit during the shutdown, largely because they worked in industries like retail, restaurants or hotels that closed early in the pandemic.
Statistics Canada said lower-wage workers recovered just over one-tenth of the losses they experienced in March and April. But they continued to have a higher share of people working less than half of their usual hours.
The number of jobs men gained in May outpaced gains by women, who had seen significant job losses early on in the pandemic. Women with children under age six also saw slower job gains than those with older children.
Rebounds were also weak for students and recent immigrants.
“Women, low-paid workers, and racialized workers continue to struggle disproportionately,” said Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
“While women and youth are re-entering the job market, job offers continue to be scarce.”
A quick look at Canada’s May employment (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
Unemployment rate: 13.7 per cent (13.0)
Employment rate: 52.9 per cent (52.1)
Participation rate: 61.4 per cent (59.8)
Number unemployed: 2,619,200 (2,418,300)
Number working: 16,474,500 (16,184,900)
Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 29.4 per cent (27.2)
Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 11.1 per cent (10.8)
Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 11.8 per cent (11.3)
Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
Newfoundland and Labrador 16.3 per cent (16.0)
Prince Edward Island 13.9 per cent (10.8)
Nova Scotia 13.6 per cent (12.0)
New Brunswick 12.8 per cent (13.2)
Quebec 13.7 per cent (17.0)
Ontario 13.6 per cent (11.3)
Manitoba 11.2 per cent (11.4)
Saskatchewan 12.5 per cent (11.3)
Alberta 15.5 per cent (13.4)
British Columbia 13.4 per cent (11.5)
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. 10.5 per cent (9.7)
Halifax 10.5 per cent (8.9)
Moncton, N.B. 8.8 per cent (7.0)
Saint John, N.B. 11.1 per cent (9.5)
Saguenay, Que. 13.3 per cent (11.1)
Quebec City 11.9 per cent (9.5)
Sherbrooke, Que. 10.9 per cent (9.2)
Trois-Rivieres, Que. 13.0 per cent (9.8)
Montreal 14.0 per cent (10.5)
Gatineau, Que. 11.0 per cent (8.9)
Ottawa 7.7 per cent (6.3)
Kingston, Ont. 10.8 per cent (7.9)
Peterborough, Ont. 9.5 per cent (7.7)
Oshawa, Ont. 10.1 per cent (8.5)
Toronto 11.2 per cent (7.9)
Hamilton, Ont. 10.3 per cent (7.5)
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 12.6 per cent (9.9)
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 10.3 per cent (7.8)
Brantford, Ont. 11.3 per cent (9.4)
Guelph, Ont. 12.9 per cent (8.6)
London, Ont. 11.7 per cent (8.9)
Windsor, Ont. 16.7 per cent (12.9)
Barrie, Ont. 11.6 per cent (9.1)
Greater Sudbury, Ont. 8.4 per cent (6.8)
Thunder Bay, Ont. 10.4 per cent (8.3)
Winnipeg 10.3 per cent (7.7)
Regina 10.6 per cent (8.6)
Saskatoon 12.4 per cent (9.8)
Calgary 13.4 per cent (10.8)
Edmonton 13.6 per cent (10.0)
Kelowna, B.C. 9.6 per cent (8.1)
Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. 7.5 per cent (5.9)
Vancouver 10.7 per cent (7.5)
Victoria 10.1 per cent (7.2)
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2020
Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.
The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.
Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.
The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.
The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.
The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.
The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.
Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.
In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.
“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.
As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.
Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.
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