Canada: Unemployment Rate Declines to 9% in September

Net Change in Employment in Canada rose by 378,000 in September, compared to economists’ estimate of 156,600, and brought the Unemployment Rate down from 10.2% in August to 9%, Statistics Canada reported on Friday. This reading beat the market expectation of 9.7% by a wide margin.

Further details of the publication revealed that the Participation rate improved to 65% from 64.6%.

“The number of Canadians who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to COVID-19 fell by 108,000 (-7.1%) in September,” Statistics Canada noted. “Combined with the declines from May to August, this left COVID-related absences from work at 605,000 (+74.9%) above February levels.