Canada employment statistics for January 2020
- prior report
- Net change in employment -212 points 8K. Last month came in at -62.6 K revised to -52.7 K
- Full-time employment +12.6 K. Last month came in at +36.5 K revised to 42.7 K
- Part-time employment -225.4 K. Last month -99.0 K revised to -95.4 K
- Unemployment rate. Last month 8.6% vs. 8.7% estimate.
- Hourly wage rate permanent employees 5.9% vs. 5.6% estimate. Last month 5.4%
- Participation rate 64.7% vs. 64.9% estimate. Last month 64.9% revised to 65.0%
- the losses were concentrated in Québec and Ontario where Covid restrictions were extended after the December report
- the employment level reaches lowest level since August 2020
- compared to a year ago employment was down 858,000 in January with Covid related absences up 529,000.
- Among Canadians who worked at least half their usual hours, the number working from home increase by nearly 700,000 to 5.4 million in January. That surpassed the previous high of 5.1 million in April
- the unemployment rate reaches highest level since August 2020
- the number of long-term unemployed remained at a record high 512,000
- full report
the net change in employment was much worse than expectations with unemployment rate is also moving higher. However all the declines were in part-time employment
The Canada statistics office did lay blame to public health measures in response to the increasing Covid 19 cases after the December report:
After the December Labour Force Survey (LFS) reference week-December 6 to 12-a number of provinces extended public health measures in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. January LFS data reflect the impact of these new restrictions and provide a portrait of labour market conditions as of the week of January 10 to 16.
