Moncton And Saint John Lost 1,600 Jobs In September
Employment held steady in New Brunswick in September after significant increases in May and June, according to labour data from Statistics Canada.
Last month, the unemployment rate in the province went up 1 percentage point to 10.4 percent as more people were looking for work.
The province added 4,100 full-time jobs but lost 1,800 part-time ones.
Educational services and public administration were the sectors that saw the biggest gains, while forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas lost the most jobs.
Still, the figures were relatively close to February levels, before the pandemic hit, according to Statistics Canada.
In New Brunswick, there were 3 percent fewer people working compared to pre-Covid levels. Employment was up o.6 percent with 350,000 residents working in September.
Moncton lost 300 jobs, with 81,900 people employed in September, down from 82,200 in August. The unemployment rate in the city went up slightly from 7 percent to 7.1 percent.
In Saint John, fewer people are also working with 1,300 jobs lost. In September, 59,500 people were employed, down from 60,200 in August. The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent to 10.1 percent.
In Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward Island lost 800 jobs after seeing gains for four consecutive months. Its unemployment rate in September was 10.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia continues on an upward trend that started five months prior, posting the largest employment gain in September (+12,000). The province’s unemployment rate dropped 2.4 percentage points to 7.9 percent.
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Across the country, unemployment was also down. StatsCan says there were 1.8 million people without work in Canada last month, which was down more than 200,000 from August.
The country’s 9 percent unemployment rate was a 1.2 percentage point drop from the previous month and continued a four-month downward trend from the record-high 2.6 million unemployed people in May.
Among those who worked most of their regular house, the percentage working from home fell slightly from 26.4 percent in August to 25.6 percent in September.
The proportion of those receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, Canada Emergency Student Benefit or Employment Insurance payouts also dropped, from 16.1 percent in August to 13.5 percent last month.