March employment report expected to be relatively flat after blockbuster February
OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is scheduled to disclose this morning how the job market fared in March, a month after a strong report that saw the unemployment rate fall to pre-pandemic levels.
The Canadian economy added 337,000 jobs in February, as the labour market shook off the shock from COVID-19 delivered two years ago.
That more than offset the loss of 200,000 jobs as the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent, below the 5.7 per cent level in February 2020.
National Bank of Canada economist Jocelyn Paquet said she expects flat numbers for the month after February’s “breathtaking” figure, even though the labour market situation likely continued to improve, supported by improvement in the pandemic.