Canada’s labour market shook off more of the shock from COVID-19 by adding 153,700 jobs in November, pushing the unemployment rate to a pandemic-era low and sending the share of the core working population with a job to an all-time high.
The unemployment rate fell to 6.0%, within 0.3 percentage points of what it was in February 2020, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Employment increased in both the services-producing and goods-producing sectors in November. Both full-time (+80,000; +0.5%) and part-time (+74,000; +2.1%) work increased, and employment gains were spread across six provinces.
Total hours worked increased 0.7% and returned to the pre-pandemic February 2020 level for the first time. Hours rose across most industries, led by manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, as well as construction. Despite increasing in November, hours in the goods-producing sector were still below their pre-pandemic level (-3.6%). All of the growth compared with February 2020 was in the services-producing sector (+1.3%), most notably in professional scientific and technical services (+12.5%).
November Labour Force Survey (LFS) data reflect labour market conditions during the week of November 7 to 13. Public health measures in place during the reference week were largely similar to those in place in October. In some jurisdictions, most notably in Ontario and Quebec, capacity limits and distancing requirements had been further eased in settings where proof of vaccination is required.
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