The unemployment rate decline in June, after a record high in may

Photo: Jonathan Hayward Archive The canadian Press

The canadian economy has created nearly a million new jobs in June, announced Friday by Statistics Canada, when businesses forced to close their doors by the pandemic have resumed their activities.

The federal agency testified to 953 000 new posts the last month or 488 000 full-time and 465 000 part-time.

The unemployment rate slipped to 12.3% in June, after having hit a peak of 13.7 % in the previous month.

Economists had forecast, on average, on the creation of 700 000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 12 %, according to the firm Refinitiv.

Quebec recorded an increase in employment of 248 000 (+6.5% in June. This increase is in addition to the similar increase (+231 000) observed in may, bringing employment to 92.2 % of its level observed in February.

At the same time, the number of people unemployed in the province decreased for a second consecutive month in June (-119 000), which resulted in a decrease of three percentage points in the unemployment rate, which increased to 10.7 %.

Statistics Canada attributes the decline in unemployment in Quebec entirely to the decline in the number of persons on temporary lay-off.

In New Brunswick the first province to have relaxed the restrictions related to the COVID-19, the employment rose by 22,000 in June. This increase, combined with increases recorded in may, has enabled the employment in the province to 97.1 % of its level observed in February before the COVID-19. This is the job recovery is the most comprehensive to date among all provinces.

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