Record-breaking losses
Temporary layoffs add more pain for Canadians
OTTAWA — Canada lost a record-breaking 2.0 million jobs in April while the unemployment rate surged to a near-high 13.0 per cent, official data showed on Friday, showing how much damage Coronavirus-related shutdowns have done to the economy.
Although the numbers were not as bad as markets had feared, Statistics Canada said they did not capture the 1.1 million people who had temporarily lost their jobs and who expected to return to work once restrictions were relaxed.
Had these people been counted as jobless, the April unemployment rate would have been a record 17.8 per cent.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a loss of four million jobs and an unemployment rate of 18 per cent, up from the 7.8 per cent seen in March, when one million jobs were lost.
“The unemployment rate at 13 per cent is not something to be excited about but it's a lot better than feared. I would say that the job figures probably understate the weakness in the economy,” said Andrew Kelvin, chief Canada strategist at TD Securities.
The Canadian dollar strengthened to a oneweek high of C$1.3922 to the U.S. dollar, or 71.83 U.S. cents.
Most non-essential businesses have been shut since mid-march as officials urge people to stay at home to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, but in recent weeks, some of the 10 Canadian provinces have started to gradually reopen their economies.
“Almost all (97.0 per cent) of the newly unemployed were on temporary layoff ... indicating that they expected to return to their former employer as the shutdown is relaxed,” Statscan said in a commentary.
The record for the highest unemployment rate since Statscan adopted its current labour force model in January 1976 was the 13.1 per cent seen in December 1982.
Some 1.47 million fulltime jobs were lost along with 522,00 part-time positions.
“It is still obviously bad. You have two million people out of work (and) it's also they worked for a lot less hours than they normally would,” said Nathan Janzen, senior economist at the Royal Bank of Canada.
“This is still consistent with a really, really sharp drop in output or another big decline in overall economic activity in April,” he said by phone.