StatCan: Retail employment up +3.4% in June
July 13, 2021
StatCan released its monthly labour report last Friday, and the results were encouraging for the retail community. The industry outperformed the national averages, which saw employment rise by 231,000 (+1.2%) in June, following a cumulative decline of 275,000 over the previous two months.
Key findings included:
- Retail employment was up +3.4% month over month as the country added 75,000 jobs in the sector
- Average wages were up for retail salespersons (+5.1%) and cashiers (+4.7%), compared to June 2019
- On the whole, retail jobs still sit -2.9% below pre-COVID levels
Despite job losses in April and May, retail (80,000) was second only to the health care and social assistance industry (96,000) in April in terms of total job vacancies (not seasonally adjusted).
