COVID-19 pandemic pushes Canada’s jobless rate to highest level in nearly 40 years

Ottawa: More than 3 million jobs have been lost in Canada since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19)pandemic, according to the report released by Statistics Canada. Employment losses nearly doubled over a month, from March when over one million jobs across the country were shed to last month, by which time nearly 2 million jobs were lost.

Canada’s unemployment rate also increased by 5.2 percentage points to 13 percent, the second-highest rate on record since December 1982.

In its monthly report, Statistics Canada noted that the national unemployment rate for April would have been nearly 18 per cent had it included 1.1 million people who could not work because of COVID-related business closures, and stopped looking for other employment.To keep workers on the payroll, the Canadian government has run a subsidy program in which employers could receive support for 75 per cent of an employee’s wage of no more than US$610 (FJ$ 1,370) per week for up to 12 weeks. But that program was set to expire on June 6.Source: