National employment back to pre-pandemic levels – StatCan
October 13, 2021
StatCan released its latest Labour Force Survey last week, showing that the country added 157,000 jobs in September (+0.8%) to bring overall national employment back to its February 2020 levels. That’s good news overall, but retail is still lagging the pack: employment fell by 20,000 (-0.9%) in retail trade (MoM), bringing employment in the industry to -3.1% (-71,000) below its February 2020 level.
Despite the easing of many restrictions across Canada, employment in the retail industry has hovered around the same level since June. Additionally, data on business openings and closures show that the total number of active businesses in the industry has shown little growth in 2021 and was 2.7% below its February 2020 level as of June 2021.
Add to this the supply chain challenges that many retailers are currently experiencing and it quickly becomes apparent that as an industry we’re still not black to pre-pandemic “normality.” RCC continues to draw attention to these issues through conversations with both government and more broadly through the media.
Our message to consumers is to shop early to ensure that deliveries arrive on time and for best selections with regards to desired brands or models.
