A newly released report shows that COVID-19 has significantly impacted Canadian employment, with the country losing more than one million jobs since last month.
Statistics Canada has reported that the country’s economy lost a total of 1,011,000 jobs in March as the pandemic began to escalate, seeing the unemployment rate rise to 7.8%, up from 5.6% in February.
These statistics mark the worst single-month change recorded in the last 40 years of data, and in total, 3.1 million Canadians were affected financially by either job loss or reduced hours in the past month.
In British Columbia specifically, the unemployment rate shifted to 7.2% during the last month, which works out to be a drop of 132,000 in the province.
B.C. Minister of Finance Carole James added, in her response to this report, that it is important to remember the thousands of people who were previously unemployed and would normally be looking for work at this time, but their search has been hampered by the pandemic.
“Today’s figures are from the very beginning of the pandemic, so we’re going to see even more of an impact in next month’s Labour Force survey,” said James.
Fortunately, she says, B.C. entered this pandemic from a position of economic strength.
From March 15th to March 21st, 1.3 million Canadians who currently held a job did not work that week – 800,000 people who still had a job worked less than half their usual hours during the same time frame.
Also, Canadians who had worked recently or wanted to work, but did not meet the official definition of unemployed, increased by 193,000.
“Almost all of the increase in unemployment was due to temporary layoffs, meaning that workers expected to return to their job within six months,” reads the Statistics Canada report.
Statistics Canada says these changes can be attributed to COVID-19, which has led businesses to shut their doors and workers to stay at home to slow the spread of the pandemic.
How has #COVID19 affected Canada’s labour market? The latest results from the Labour Force Survey reflect labour market conditions during the week of March 15 to 21, 2020. https://t.co/YYBK5IX1qK #CdnEcon pic.twitter.com/gbWgYwRjw5
— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) April 9, 2020
See all the latest updates about the global COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver Island
The BCCDC has set up a 2019 novel coronavirus telephone information line at 1-833-784-4397 for those who have further questions about this disease.
Anyone concerned that they may have been exposed to, or are experiencing symptoms of the novel coronavirus, should contact their primary care provider, local public health office, or call 8-1-1.
The Province has also created the 1-888-COVID-19 line to connect British Columbians needing non-medical information about the coronavirus pandemic.
As of the time of publication, the total number of COVID-19 patients worldwide has risen to 1,549,930.
Over 91,000 people have died from the illness and 344,794 have made a full recovery.