The country’s unemployment rate rose for the first time since the January lockdowns.
Canada’s economy lost 207,000 jobs in April, as a new round of government-ordered lockdowns forced businesses to lay off workers, according to Statistics Canada.
The agency reported that 129,000 full-time jobs were lost last month, along with an additional 78,000 part-time positions.
As a result, the country’s unemployment rate rose 8.1 per cent from 7.5 per cent a month earlier.
Almost half of the job losses involved young workers between 15 and 24 years old. Most of the losses were in sectors that typically employ this demographic and were hardest hit by Covid-19: namely, retail, food services and information, culture, and recreation.
The results for April were worse than the 175,000 losses expected, Statistics Canada said.
