It’s the second straight month of job losses, after 43,000 jobs were lost in June. Economists had expected the economy to see a slight gain of about 15,000 jobs, but instead the employment pool shrank. Goods-producing industries actually added about 23,000 jobs during the month, but that relative strength was more than offset by a large loss of 53,000 jobs in the services sector. The health care sector was a major problem, losing 22,000 jobs. After more than two years of caring for Canadians during a pandemic, burnout and job turmoil in the industry are becoming a major issue. More than 10 percent of all nurses called in sick at least once during the month, and more than 20 percent worked paid overtime to cover it, the data agency said. Nursing vacancies at the start of 2022 were more than triple the level five years earlier, Statistics Canada said. “The decline in health care jobs has not gone unnoticed as it is due to voluntary departures rather than layoffs,” said economist Tu Nguyen with accounting and consulting firm RSM Canada. “The health care worker exodus has led to an explosion of temporary emergency room closings. This has big, big implications, [because] When people are not cared for, it leads to workers in all industries calling in sick, having to take time off to care for sick family members, or even leaving the workforce in more extreme circumstances.” Despite the decline, the unemployment rate held steady at a record low of 4.9 percent because while there were fewer jobs, there were also fewer people looking for work. As of late July, the data agency says there were about one million people in Canada officially classified as unemployed, meaning they want a job but don’t have one. Another 426,000 people wanted a job but did not look for work during the month, so they are not officially among the unemployed. The roughly one million people out of work compare to 19.5 million Canadians who had some kind of paid work during the month. Canada’s soft labor market is in stark contrast to that of the US, where the economy added 528,000 jobs last month. That’s double what economists expected. While the monthly job count is always volatile, and is especially volatile in the summer months, Tiago Figueiredo, an economist with Desjardins, says the outnumbered number suggests Canada’s labor market “hit the brakes in July.” “That said, the labor market remains tight and there is room for further weakness in employment as economic growth slows.” While the economy is losing jobs overall, many sectors are expanding strongly, such as aviation, says Arvin Nagules with Menzies Aviation. (CBC) While the economy has fewer workers today than it did in May, many industries and employers report that hiring remains strong. The tourism sector has been hit perhaps harder than any other sector by the pandemic, but as demand returns, so does the need for workers. Laura Pallotta, vice president of Marriott Hotels, says the chain is currently trying to hire up to 1,000 people across the country, even as the overall economic outlook darkens. “We think we need to continue to recruit back positions and roles [because] we see that demand for Canada in the coming years will continue to be strong,” she told CBC News. Arvin Nagules, senior vice-president of Menzies Aviation, which provides a variety of airport services in Canada and abroad, says his industry is also trying to rapidly increase staffing levels. He says airlines and airports have done as much hiring in the past two or three months as they would normally do in several years. “It’s not just the airline industry. They’re all fighting for the same group of people,” he said in an interview.
