MONTREAL -- In just about four months, from March to June, Quebec lost approximately 450,000 jobs compared to the same period in 2019 due to the effects of COVID-19.
Quebec’s statistics institute specified the number represents a decrease of about 10 per cent of the total volume of employment, which totalled in at about $4.33 million on average from March to June in 2019.
From March to June of this year, a little over 365,000 jobs were lost in the service industry, the Institut de la statistique du Quebec estimates, while the accommodation and restaurant industry saw a drop of nearly 100,000 jobs. There was also a drop of 75,000 jobs in the wholesale and retail industry and of 50,000 in the manufacturing sector.
The Institute's findings – based on data from Statistics Canada's labour force survey – specify that women seem to have lost more jobs than men during the COVID-19 crisis compared to the corresponding period in 2019. There were 238,100 job losses for women compared to 209,100 for men.
Young people aged 15 to 24 were more affected than other age groups, with a drop of nearly 25 per cent in their unemployment volume (or 132,300 jobs from March to June).
In its most recent labour force survey, Statistics Canada indicated that in Quebec, employment increased by 2.4 per cent last month – an increase on top of the ones observed over the previous two months, which brought employment to 94.4 per cent of its pre-pandemic level.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2020.
