OTTAWA –
Statistics Canada says the economy added 154,000 jobs in November as the labour market showed more signs it’s returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The unemployment rate fell to 6.0 per cent last month compared with 6.7 per cent in October.
That brought the headline rate to within 0.3 percentage points of the 5.7 per cent recorded in February 2020 just before the pandemic struck.
Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate would have been 7.8 per cent in November had it included in calculations Canadians who wanted to work but didn’t search for a job, down from 8.7 per cent in October.
Statistics Canada also says that the number of long-term unemployed fell by 62,000, marking the first monthly drop since August.
The agency says the decline in long-term unemployed was particularly sharp for Canadians who had been out of work for a year or more.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2021.
