Record one million job losses in March: StatCan

OTTAWA -- More than one million Canadians lost their jobs in the month of March, Statistics Canada is reporting. The unemployment rate has also climbed to 7.8 per cent, up from 2.2 percentage points since February.

Canada’s national statistics agency released its monthly Labour Force Survey on Thursday, using March 15 to 21 as the sample week – a time when the government began enforcing strict guidelines around social gatherings and called on non-essential busi

nesses to close up shop.

The first snapshot of job loss since COVID-19 began taking a toll on the Canadian economy shows 1.1 million out of work since the prior sample period and a consequent decrease in the employment rate – the lowest since April 1997. The most job losses occurred in the private sector and among people aged 15-24. The number of people who were unemployed increased by 413,000, resulting in the largest one-month increase in Canada’s unemployment rate on record and takes the economy back to a state last seen in October, 2010. Almost all of the increase in unemployment was due to temporary layoffs, meaning that workers expected to return to their job within six months,” reads the findings.

The agency included three new indicators, on top of the usual criteria, to better reflect the impact of COVID-19 on employment across the country.

The survey, for example, excludes the more commonly observed reasons for absent workers -- such as vacation, weather, paren

tal leave or a strike or lockout -- to better isolate the pandemic’s effect.

They looked at: people who are employed but were out of a job during the reference week, people who are employed but worked less than half their usual hours, and people who are unemployed but would like a job. The number of people in the first bucket has increased by 1.3 million since February, while the second category has increased by 800,000. ” These increases in absences from work can be attributed to COVID-19 and bring the total number of Canadians who were affected by either job loss or reduced hours to 3.1 million,” reads the findings. Quebec, British Columbia, and Ontario saw the biggest jump in unemployment. Only Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island were spared.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his Thursday press briefing acknowledged how grim a picture these numbers paint for Canadians.“As stark as those numbers are, they aren’t a surprise for a lot of Canadians. Each one represents a different story; a worker who’s been laid off, a family that’s having to hunker down, a community that’s anxious about today and tomorrow,” he said. “We’re doing our best to help you bridge to better times. ”Economists warn numbers will be worse for the month of April. Millions of Canadians have applied for federal assistance over the past several weeks, including the Liberal government’s Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) launched Monday, which provides those unemployed with $500 a week for 16 weeks. On Wednesday alone, 749,000 Canadians applied for CERB. The government has processed 4.58 million CERB and Employment Insurance claims. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland had a direct message for Canadians on Thursday: “If you haven’t already applied for the CERB, please do so. It is there for you.”

“These numbers represent more than one million Canadians and more than one million Canadian families who are experiencing great hardship and who are really afraid.”