Canada’s unemployment rate hits new high

Amid the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate in Canada rose by 0.6 percentage point to 9.4% in January, the highest rate since August 2020, according to the national statistical office. On Friday, Statistics Canada said employment decreased by 213,000, or 1.2%, in January as lockdowns and restrictions caused the closure of many businesses across the country, reports Xinhua. The decrease marked a second straight month the labour market contracted after 63,000 positions disappeared in December 2020 to break a streak of monthly gains that began in May 2020.It was heavy in the services sector and part-time work fuelling the largest monthly decline since last April when some 2 million jobs were lost.