Unemployment Rises Across Nova Scotia, But Dips In Halifax
HALIFAX – As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak economic havoc in 2020, more people are unemployed in Nova Scotia. Between September and October, according to the latest numbers released by Statistics Canada, unemployment in the province grew by 12.6 percent. The situation is better in Halifax.
In September, 38,900 Nova Scotians were unemployed, compared to 43,800 in October. This caused the official unemployment rate to jump from 7.9 percent to 8.7.
The dip in employment is attributed to fewer people working part-time. The part-time workforce shrunk by 8.5 percent, while the full-time workforce actually increased by 2.9 percent. Overall, the labour forced slightly increased in Nova Scotia by 1.6 percent between September and October.
In Halifax, the unemployment rate dropped from 8.4 percent to 7.7 percent in October. The employed workforce grew from 236,900 to 240,300.
Overall, employment growth across Canada had stalled by October. Stats Can believes stricter pandemic rules, in response to the second wave of Covid, caused the slowdown.
“By then, several provinces had tightened public health measures in response to a spike in Covid-19 cases,” says the stats organization. “Unlike the widespread economic shutdown implemented in March and April, these measures were targeted at businesses where the risk of Covid transmission is thought to be greater, including indoor restaurants and bars and recreational facilities.”
“Employment increased by 84,000 (+0.5 percent) in October, after growing by an average of 2.7 percent per month since May. The unemployment rate was 8.9 percent, little changed from September.”
Stats Can notes that, nationwide, growth is strong in sectors like wholesale trade, scientific and technical services, and educational services. Growth stalled, however, in areas like transportation and construction.
One of the biggest demographic jumps occurred with women in the workforce. In October, 40,00 more women between the ages of 25 and 54 years of age joined the workforce. This represented six straight months of growth for this demographic.
For the first time since the pandemic hit Canada back in March, self-employment numbers went up, back in October. Those who say they work for themselves increased that month by 33,000. Compare that to the period between February and April, when the number of self-employed people in Canada dropped by 79,000. That does pale in comparison to workforce numbers, which dipped by 2.9 million in the early months of the pandemic.
One of the least surprising stats to come out of the survey is the dramatic increase in people working from home. In October, this stat rose by 150,000. In total, since the pandemic began, 2.4 million Canadians have reported working from home, who would normally be employed out of a worksite.