Canada's economy added 259,000 jobs in February, exceeding expectations to pull the country closer to pre-pandemic employment levels. A year into the pandemic, Canada's job market is 599,100 jobs short of where it was in February of last year, or 3.1 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The shortfall is higher for young workers at 10.2 per cent, with young women aged 15-24 the most affected.
Statistics Canada said recently that young women are down 181,000 jobs from February 2020, or off 14.1 per cent from pre-pandemic levels. For young men, the shortfall is 96,000, or 7.3 per cent.Canada's economy added 259,000 jobs in February, exceeding expectations to pull the country closer to pre-pandemic employment levels. A year into the pandemic, Canada's job market is 599,100 jobs short of where it was in February last year, or 3.1 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The shortfall is higher for young workers at 10.2 per cent.#
The details add to the portrait of the pandemic's disproportionate economic impact on women, dubbed the ‘shecession’, that the federal government hopes to address through a panel of experts that first met recently with finance minister Chrystia Freeland.
Ottawa has suggested it will use jobs as a gauge for planned stimulus measures to be unveiled in a spring budget, according to a global newswire.
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the gains good news for workers and their families, Conservative critic Pierre Poilievre warned the government can't yet pat itself on the back as he called for tax reform and other measures to get more people back to work.
The Bank of Canada is also monitoring employment data, noting the uneven impacts of job losses in its reasoning this week for holding its key interest rate target at 0.25 per cent.
Overall, the gain in February almost wiped out the 266,000 jobs lost over the previous two months, as lockdowns from December and January lifted in much of the country.
Almost all the job increases were among low-wage and part-time workers in areas like retail and accommodation.
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