Further job losses in May as third wave lingers

Signal49 Research’s Economist Liam Daly offers the following insights on May’s
Labour Force Survey (LFS):

• A second consecutive fall in employment was recorded in May. Although the decline was
  smaller than the previous month, the number of people employed fell by 68,000. This decline
  caused the unemployment rate to inch up to 8.2 per cent. These results reflect the lingering
  impact of restrictions aimed at curbing the third wave of the pandemic.
• Despite this May’s numbers, the worst of the third wave has now passed and relative to the
  second wave in January the effects on the labour market have been milder, both in terms of
  job losses and declines in labour force participation.
• A notable feature of May’s losses was the fall in employment among goods-producing sectors
  of the economy. Relative to several service industries, which are particularly sensitive to
  prevailing COVID-19 conditions, goods-producing industries have thus far shown a degree of
  resilience
  to the pandemic thanks to in-work safety measures and exemptions from mandatory closures.
• However, significant employment declines occurred in both manufacturing (-35,900) and
  construction (-15,800) industries. The decline in employment in manufacturing is the first
  since April 2020. Of the losses within the industry, 78 per cent occurred in Ontario and
  Quebec, reflecting a combination of COVID-19 restrictions and the continuing computer chip shortage
  that has disrupted production in the auto industry.
• The employment decline in construction was concentrated Ontario where public health
  measures restricted activity within the industry.
• Among the service industries, losses were concentrated in the wholesale and retail trade (-
  21,200) and other services (-24,100). With Ontario expected to reopen non-essential business
  in the coming days we expect a significant portion of these losses to be recovered as soon
  as public health measures permit.
• A stand-out sector in this month’s survey was the transportation and warehousing industry
  which added 21,900 jobs. The industry has been one of the worse affected partly due to falls
  in commuting and travel over the last year. This month’s employment gains bring the industry to
  within 4 per cent of per-pandemic levels.
• Employment rose by 8,600 in the natural resources sector. Strong demand for commodities
  including oil, wood and mining products is driving up activity in this sector.
• A survey of the provinces reveals a divergent picture which continues to closely reflect the
  state of the pandemic in each region.
• The provinces of Ontario (-31,600) and Nova Scotia (-22,200) bore the brunt of the job
  losses this month. Employment also fell in Quebec (-8,000), New Brunswick (-2,700) and
  Newfoundland and Labrador (-2,100).
• Of the Prairies and the Western provinces, employment in British Columbia, Alberta and
  Manitoba remained essentially flat.
• Only Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island saw employment rise in May, though in both cases
  the increase was modest.
• This month’s labour force survey may well mark an inflection point in the trajectory of the
  labour market recovery. Over the month of May several regions have taken steps to ease
  public health measures and will aim to continue along a path of reopening as we move into
  the summer. As vaccination programs progress, there is reason to be optimistic that Canada is
  moving into a less volatile stage of the pandemic marked by a more consistent pattern of
  employment growth especially among several badly affected service industries.