This recovery is going to take awhile. Despite adding 9,900 jobs in August, the capital region’s jobless rate ticked up to 9.2 per cent from 9.1 per cent in July, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The unemployment rate failed to drop because an additional 11,200 job seekers entered the market at the same time. Statcan has adjusted these numbers to account for seasonal influences. The monthly data is actually an average of the three most recent months, a tweak to accommodate the relatively small sample size for Ottawa-Gatineau.
This marks the second straight month the region has seen a rebound in the number of jobs. Even so, the economy has now recouped just 31 per cent of the 80,000 jobs lost because of the pandemic.
Inside the capital region, the health of key job sectors varied widely. On the plus side, several sectors now employ more than they did before the government began locking down the economy in March.
High-tech, health services and business services each employ 10 per cent to 12 per cent more workers than they did in February. (Data for industry sectors is unadjusted for seasonality.) Construction employment is up about five per cent.
In sharp contrast, professional services and education have witnessed a steady decline in employment since February. Job totals in August were down 12 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
In the first case, governments have put many non-COVID projects on the back burner. In the second, many private-sector trainers and teachers may be finding it difficult to convince clients to show up in person or convert to online courses.
Other sectors have rebounded since June, but not enough to make up for previous losses.
The finance, insurance and real estate industries have recouped nearly 80 per cent of previous employment while retailers & wholesalers and hotels & restaurants have recovered to 56 per cent and 43 per cent respectively of previous levels.
The region’s key industry, public administration, employed 174,000 in August, down about 11,000 from February, or roughly six per cent.
In the COVID era, that’s considered not a bad result.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
