Yukon saw a major spike in business closures in April as the economic fallout from COVID-19 began to take hold.
But figures from the statistics bureau show the territory might be at least staying afloat.
Preliminary figures released by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics show that 129 businesses closed in April, compared to 66 businesses that opened. Closures continued to outweigh openings in May with 79 shuttered and 50 opened.
By June, the most recent month for which figures are available, the trend had reversed: 88 new businesses opened and 65 closed.
Yukon’s Liberal government holds this up as evidence that policies aimed at keeping businesses afloat are working. In the fall economic update released last week, finance officials project that Yukon’s GDP will grow by 0.8 per cent in 2020.
That’s a far cry from the 6.2 per cent growth predicted in the March budget, but so far it appears the Yukon has avoided a recession.
Still, acting Yukon Party leader Stacey Hassard criticized the Liberals for offering GDP figures as good economic news.
Yukon Premier Sandy Silver acknowledged the economy has suffered but said the mining industry and government support programs for businesses have helped. (Chris Windeyer/CBC)
GDP figures ‘cold comfort’ for jobless, Hassard says
“The government is bragging about the GDP growth,” Hassard said in question period Monday. “Well, GDP numbers are cold comfort for out-of-work Yukoners.”
Premier Sandy Silver said the modest GDP growth doesn’t mean the government doesn’t recognize the impact the pandemic has had on the territorial economy. He said territorial and federal programs designed to cover fixed business expenses such as rent and utilities is helping to limit the economic damage.
“Do we believe that we’re out of the woods? No, we don’t,” Silver said. “Are we concerned about the businesses that have gone under and the other ones that have to switch and have [had] their lives turned upside down? Absolutely.”
All told, there are 100 fewer businesses open in the Yukon now than before the pandemic started. And the territory’s unemployment has doubled to eight per cent.
Acting Yukon Party Leader Stacey Hassard said 0.8 per cent GDP growth is “cold comfort” to people who’ve lost their jobs due to the pandemic. (Chris Windeyer/CBC)
Data in the fall economic update suggested the Yukon shed 4,000 jobs between March and June, effectively wiping out a decade of employment growth. A massive drop in tourism hit the service and accommodation sectors especially hard: the number of jobs in those sectors dropped by half.
The pandemic has also wiped out a modest $4.1-million surplus in the March budget. The supplementary budget now forecasts a deficit of $31.6 million for the next fiscal year.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
