People wearing face masks walk past a store with an "OPEN" sign in Toronto, Canada, on March 12, 2021. Canada's unemployment rate fell 1.2 percentage points to 8.2 percent in February 2021, the lowest rate since March 2020, Statistics Canada said Friday. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
OTTAWA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Canada's unemployment rate fell 1.2 percentage points to 8.2 percent in February 2021, the lowest rate since March 2020, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Employment increased by 259,000 in February after falling by 266,000 over the previous two months. The part-time section added 171,000 jobs and the full-time added 88,000 jobs in the month.
"February marked 12 months of unprecedented changes in the Canadian labor market, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic," Statistics Canada said.
Compared with 12 months earlier, there were 599,000 fewer people employed, and 406,000 more people working less than half of their usual hours.
In February, total hours worked increased by 1.4 percent, driven mostly by gains in wholesale and retail trade.
Statistics Canada said the unemployment rate would have been 10.7 percent in February had it included in calculations Canadians who wanted to work but didn't search for a job.
After falling steadily from September 2020 to January 2021, the number of people working in the information, culture, and recreation industry was little changed in February.
February employment increases were concentrated in jobs paying 17.50 Canadian dollars per hour or less, reflecting monthly growth in industries with a high proportion of low-paying jobs. Enditem
