Canada lost more than 1M jobs in March as COVID-19 struck

Statistics Canada is reporting the economy lost 1,011,000 jobs in March as the COVID-19 outbreak started to take hold.

The loss marks the worst recorded single-month change since similar data began being recorded in 1976.

Economists are warning the numbers will likely be worse when the agency starts collecting data from April.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.8 per cent. It’s the biggest monthly change in the national unemployment rate over the last 40 years.

Statistics Canada changed the way it counted employed, unemployed and “not in the labour force” to better understand the effects the virus is having on the job market.

Almost all of the increase in unemployment was due to temporary layoffs, meaning that workers expected to return to their job within six months.

The age group hardest hit by unemployment was youth, aged 15 to 24. Statistics Canada says employment decreased by 392,500 jobs in March.

About 20 per cent of employed youth lost all or the majority of their usual hours.