Canada's unemployment rate further declines

Ottawa, Oct 10 (IANS) Canada's unemployment rate has further declined to 9 per cent from 10.2 per cent in August, according to official figures.Statistics Canada said on Friday that country added 378,000 jobs in September, an increase of 2.1 per cent, a result that greatly exceeded expectations, reports Xinhua news agency.There were 1.8 million unemployed Canadians in September, continuing the four-month downward trend from the record-high of 2.6 million in May.The unemployment rate jumped to a record high of 13.7 per cent in May from 5.6 per cent in February due to the coronavirus-induced economic shutdown.Most of the employment increase in September was in full-time work, which raised 334,000 jobs based on the addition of 206,000 jobs in August.The number of Canadians who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to Covid-19 fell by 108,000, or down 7.1 per cent, in September.Among Canadians who worked most of their usual hours, the proportion working from home edged down from 26.4 per cent in August to 25.6 per cent in September.
--IANS ksk/