Economy added 55,000 jobs in December, StatCan says

Canada’s unemployment rate was little changed in the last month of 2021, dropping by 0.1 per cent December, bringing it to 5.9 per cent.

It was the lowest unemployment rate since February 2020, before the pandemic, when it was 5.7 per cent.

According to Statistics Canada, the economy added 55,000 jobs last month, with more people working full time. The overall increase in jobs in December was due to a gain in full-time jobs of 123,000, while part-time employment fell by 68,000 for the month.

Most of the growth across the country was in Ontario.

Full-time employment rose by 0.8 per cent in December, with the majority of that increase among “men of core working age.”

The unemployment rate in December remains slightly above pre-pandemic levels, the agency notes, adding “The adjusted unemployment rate—which includes people who wanted a job, but did not look for one—was 7.6%, marking the first return to the pre-pandemic level for this indicator.”

The report was based on survey results done during the week of Dec. 5 to 11, before the public restrictions put in place to slow the latest surge in COVID-19 cases.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant has fuelled a massive spike in COVID-19 cases and prompted a return to restrictions in many parts of the country that have forced many businesses to temporarily close or curtail operations.