There are still major imbalances in the labor market: inequalities persist stubbornly in the recovery of jobs lost during the health crisis.
Statistics Canada data for August is not all disappointing. There was a net creation of 90,200 jobs in the Canadian economy, 69,000 of which were full-time. Combined with the increases recorded in June and July, the increase took employment to 156,000 or 0.8% below its February 2020 level, “the closest it has been since the start of the COVID-19 ”. The continued easing of restrictions combined with the opening of borders to adequately vaccinated American tourists has had a particularly felt effect in the service sector, which for the first time sees its number of jobs return to pre-pandemic levels.
This embellishment of the facade, however, masks deep inequalities that could testify to job changes or career realignments in the face of the restrictions maintained.
In service sectors deemed essential or allowing a higher proportion of people to work from home, employment is now at levels far above those before the pandemic. This is the case for professional, scientific and technical services (+ 10%), for public administrations (+ 7.1%) and educational services (+ 5.3%). In segments where employment is said to be local, it remains well below the levels observed before COVID-19: this is the case for accommodation and food services (-12.6%), for information, culture and leisure (-5.7%) and for retail trade (-2.2%).
This contrasting portrait shifts the spotlight on the job change rate – 0.8% in August – which has returned to its pre-pandemic level. Economists see it as a sign of the return of confidence; others, an explanation of the labor shortage affecting certain sectors. This rate has gradually increased over the past year after dropping to nearly zero in May 2020. Before the pandemic, from 2016 and 2019, it averaged 0.7%, says Statistics Canada.
So much remains to be done.
As proof, the unemployment rate of 7.1%, down 0.4 percentage point from July, which is the lowest rate since the start of the pandemic. It stood at 5.7% in February 2020, then peaked at 13.7% in May 2020. But the adjusted unemployment rate – which includes people who wanted a job, but didn’t look for one. a – was 9.1% in August, and this data is influenced by an 81,000 (-5.7%) decline in the labor force last month.
The same is true for the youth employment rate which, at 57.6%, returned to its level of February 2020 under the effect of the decrease in the size of the working population in this stratum.
The list of recitals is growing. Three of the four components of the labor underutilization rate remained at a higher level than before the pandemic. Compared to February 2020, last month there were still a greater number of people looking for work (+288,000; + 27.7%), a greater number of people in employment, but who worked less than half of their usual hours (+243,000; + 29.9%), and more people who wanted a job but did not look for one (+68,000; +17 , 2%), continues the federal agency.
In addition, there is always the problem of long-term unemployment, that is, the number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. It fell 29,000 (6.7%) to 394,000 in August, but remains 215,000 (or 120%) higher than in February 2020. “The long-term unemployed represented 27.4% of all unemployed in August, up from 15.6% just before the start of the pandemic, ”said Statistics Canada.
For its part, Quebec recorded a drop of 11,000 jobs last month, a drop in part-time employment (-22,300), surpassing a net creation of 11,300 full-time jobs. Unemployment fell from 6.1% to 5.8% from July to August to settle at the lowest rate since February 2020. A performance which, however, includes a drain of 25,400 people in the workforce. Desjardins Group analysts have calculated that the goods sector has recovered 96% of the level of employment in February 2020, and that of services, 99.2%.
More work in perspective, then.
Watch video
Reference-feedproxy.google.com