Jobs rebound likely just hit a lockdown wall

The seven- month streak of gains in Canada’s labour market probably came to an end last month. Economists in a Bloomberg survey expect Statistics Canada to report Friday the country lost 30,000 jobs in December. They also predict the unemployment rate ticked up 0.2 percentage points to 8.7 per cent. Partial lockdowns in Toronto, Montreal and the province of Manitoba probably led to more job losses in already battered sectors like restaurants, hotels and the recreation industry. Toronto-dominion Bank’s estimate of a 125,000 decline is the most pessimistic of economists surveyed. Not everyone is downbeat. Brendon Bernard, an economist at job-posting site Indeed Canada, said listings as of Dec. 31 were only 1 per cent below year-earlier levels.