Credit: CFJC Today Newsfile

By Doug Collins/The Canadian Press

Unemployment rate

Many have given up looking for work : STATSCAN

Jun 4, 2021 | 7:44 AM

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the economy lost 68,000 jobs in
May as lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 continued.

The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in May, little changed
from the 8.1 per cent in April because the number of unemployed
people in Canada overall stayed relatively steady.

What changed is that more people dropped out of the labour force
in May, including workers who simply got discouraged and gave up
looking for work.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate would have been 10.7
per cent in May had it included in calculations those people who
wanted to work but didn’t search for a job.

May’s job losses put the country about 571,100 jobs, or three per
cent, below pre-pandemic levels seen in February 2020.

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Statistics Canada says employment in goods-producing sectors
dropped for the first time since April 2020, including in
manufacturing that saw a decline of 36,000 jobs in May.

B.C.’s rate dropped a tenth of a point, and now sits at 7.0 percent. That’s the third best rate in the country, behind Saskatchewan’s 6.3 percent and the unemployment rate in Quebec, which sits at 6.6 percent.

(The Canadian Press)