OTTAWA – Employment in this country increased by 90,000, or 0.5 percent, in August, marking the third consecutive monthly increase, according to Statistics Canada.
The country’s unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 7.1 percent, compared with 7.5 percent in July.
#Breaking news
-Canada adds 90,200 jobs in August (est. Up to 60,000)
-Unemployment rate at 7.1% vs 7.5% in July
-Full-time jobs up to 68,500
-Part-time jobs up to 21,700(source; Bloomberg / Stats Canada)
– mike eppel (@eppman) September 10, 2021
This is the lowest rate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed many businesses in Canada and put thousands of people out of work.
Most of the gains in August came from full-time work in the service-producing industries – the food and lodging services sectors. Last month, more than 68,000 new full-time positions were registered, compared to 21,700 part-time openings.
Statistics Canada says gains in the service sector brought employment back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time, although there are still some areas that lag behind, such as retail and food services.
“Combined with gains in June and July, the August increase brought employment to 156,000 (-0.8%) of its February 2020 level, the closest since the start of COVID-19 pandemic. The employment rate was 60.5% in August, 1.3 percentage points below the pre-pandemic rate, ”the agency added.
Reference-toronto.citynews.ca