Montréal, December 17, 2020. – In the third quarter of 2020, there were 143,300 fewer people employed in Québec than in the fourth quarter of 2019, a number that corresponds to 96.7% of the level before the pandemic. Compared with the other provinces in Canada (the Atlantic and Prairie provinces are combined), Québec had recovered the highest share of jobs overall (96.7%) and the highest share of full-time jobs (97.0%).
The unemployment rate in Québec in the third quarter of 2020 (8.5%) was also the lowest among the provinces compared. These are the main findings from the publication Comment évolue la participation au marché du travail en temps de pandémie au Québec et ailleurs au Canada? released today by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Ratio of the number of people employed in the third quarter of 2020 to that in the fourth quarter of 2019, population aged 15 and over, all of Canada and provinces
Source : Statistique Canada, Enquête sur la population active, 2020. Adapté par l’Institut de la statistique du Québec.
In Québec, the pandemic’s impact on employment was more pronounced among women and young people
In Québec, the decline in the number of people employed between the last quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 was sharper among women (-98,200) than men (-45,200). There was also a larger decline among people aged 15 to 24 (-53,600) than among those aged 25 to 54 (-51,700) and 55 and over (-38,100).
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