On Friday, Canada recently released the results of the Labour Force Survey for the month of August, showcasing the positive results from the easing of lockdown restrictions. Despite the loss of 3 million jobs in March due to public health restrictions, more people have been able to come back to work in the past month. According to the survey’s results, 246,000 jobs have been added to Canada’s recovering economy.

According to data from the survey, employment for both Candians and landed immigrants is on the rise, to 1.4% and 1.6% respectively. Employment for recent immigrants has also risen to 2.2%, possibly due to the lower population of recent immigrants due to new arrival levels being hampered by the pandemic.

Most of the recent job acquisitions were for full-time positions, with employment primarily focused on the service sector at a 1.5% increase. This means employment for services in the educational sector, in accommodation and food services, as well as beauty and wellness services such as hair and beauty salons, has been on the rise. 

Despite the good news, however, there are still disparities in employment, particularly among women and visible minorities. 

While the labor force participation rate for men is now closer to 0.2% of pre-COVID levels, for women it is 1.3% below pre-COVID levels. Visible minority groups remain drastically affected by unemployment, with the national unemployment rate of 11.1% actually lower compared to the 17.9% for Arab, 17.6% for Black, and 16.6% for Southeast Asian communities.

For minimum-wage and youth workers, employment levels are only at 86%, while others have returned to pre-COVID levels, as low-wage workers were among the hardest hit, especially in the service and manufacturing industries

While employment may be on the rise, Canada still has over a million jobs to recover from the pandemic. However, given the positive results in the recent months as Canada continues to adjust to the new normal, they are on track for economic recovery, with nearly 1.9 million jobs recovered. Apart from the 246,000 jobs created last August, nearly 1.2 million were recovered in May and June, and another 419,000 were recovered in July. 

Canada has continually asserted that immigrants will be instrumental to economic recovery. 

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