Perhaps the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting with full force, with jobless numbers increasing last month.
Figures released Friday by Statistics Canada revealed employment fell by 63,000 in December—the first decline since April. The numbers constituted a loss of 0.3%.
Part-time employment declined by 99,000 (-2.9%) in December, led by losses among youth aged 15 to 24 (-58,000; -5.1%) and those aged 55 and older (-27,000; -3.0%).
By December, 1.1 million Canadian workers were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown—in the form of lost employment or reduced hours—compared with 5.5 million in April.
Self-employment fell by 62,000 in December, while the number of employees in both the public and private sectors was little changed.
As the number of COVID-19 cases increased in the fall, the share of Canadians working from home trended up, reaching 28.6% in December.
The agency also said, though, the unemployment rate was 8.6% in December, essentially unchanged from 8.5% in November.
