Economics
Steep Drop in Canadian Jobs Fails to Derail Recovery Optimism
- Economy loses 212,800 jobs; unemployment rate jumps to 9.4%
- But declines were confined to a handful of hardest-hit sectors
This article is for subscribers only.
The fresh wave of Covid lockdowns in Canada is having little impact outside close-contact sectors like retail, easing worries about spillover effects and long-term scarring from the restrictions.
Employment in Canada fell more than expected in January, with a loss of 212,800 positions that reversed five months of gains, the country’s statistics agency reported on Friday. But the entirety of the drop was in part-time work, concentrated in a few sectors and confined to the two provinces with the toughest measures -- Quebec and Ontario.