The Canadian economy experienced a significant downturn in November, with Canada losing a total of 71,000 jobs last month due to declines in the manufacturing and natural resources sectors.
The monthly labour force report, released on Friday by Statistics Canada, shows the unemployment rate rose by 0.4% in November, bringing the national unemployment rate to 5.9%.
“Declines in employment were recorded both in the goods-producing sector, specifically in manufacturing and natural resources, as well as in the services-producing sector, notably in public administration,” states the report.
Job losses were centred in Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia, with the other provinces seeing little change.
Quebec lost a total of 45,000 jobs, with Alberta and British Columbia both losing 18,000 jobs.
Manufacturing and natural resources saw the highest number of job losses, with those sectors losing 27,500 and 6,500 jobs respectively.
November is the second consecutive month of significant job losses in the manufacturing sector, having already shed 23,100 jobs in October.
Since November 2018 the natural resources sector has lost 25,000 jobs or 7.2% of the total workforce.
During the same period, the United States saw a gain of 266,000 jobs, well-exceeding expectations.
While Canadian manufacturers suffered large job losses, the United States saw a gain of 54,000 manufacturing jobs, with 41,300 of those in the automotive sector.
