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Canada adds 154,000 jobs through November

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the economy added 154,000 jobs in November as the labour market showed more signs it’s returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.0 per cent last month compared with 6.7 per cent in October.

That brought the headline rate to within 0.3 percentage points of the 5.7 per cent recorded in February 2020 just before the pandemic struck.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate would have been 7.8 per cent in November had it included in calculations Canadians who wanted to work but didn’t search for a job, down from 8.7 per cent in October.

Statistics Canada also says that the number of long-term unemployed fell by 62,000, marking the first monthly drop since August.

The agency says the decline in long-term unemployed was particularly sharp for Canadians who had been out of work for a year or more.

However, threats continue to be found on the horizon, said Tanya Gullison, chief revenue officer of LHH, a Toronto-based HR consulting firm, in a press release.

“The arrival of Omicron demonstrates that the ripples of the pandemic will be felt across the labour market in 2022,” she said.

“While the business community believed that 2022 would bring employees back to office, employers need to strengthen their talent strategies to cope with another wave of change, while remaining focused on employee wellness and doing an exceptional job of supporting existing staff to retain their employees.”

The report showed:

• Employment rose by 154,000 (+0.8%) in November and was 186,000 (+1.0%) higher than its pre-COVID February 2020 level.
• Employment among core-aged women (25 to 54 years) grew 66,000 (+1.1%), primarily in full-time work (+47,000; +0.9%).
• Among core-aged men, employment rose by 48,000 (+0.7%), with gains entirely in full-time work.
• The employment rate for women aged 25 to 54 reached an all-time high of 80.7%.
• Both full-time (+80,000; +0.5%) and part-time (+74,000; +2.1%) work increased.
• The number of private sector employees rose 107,000 (+0.9%), while there was little change in public sector employment and self-employment.
• Two-year wage growth was 5.2% when controlling for changes in the composition of employment by occupation and tenure, and 7.7% when not controlling.
• Employment increased in both the services-producing sector (+127,000) and the goods-producing sector (+26,000) in November.

With files from Talent Canada