The month of March 2009 saw the loss of 61,300 full-time jobs according to Statistics Canada, increasing the Canadian unemployment rate by 0.3 percent — raising the figure to 8 percent, a 7-year high for the country. Similar trends were seen throughout February and March in the United States and Britain, with jobless benefit claims in both countries rising to record highs.

Since the employment rate peaked in October of last year, net job losses have totaled around 357,000, increasing each month — Statistics Canada has said the five-month decline is the most severe since the 1982 recession. Of all industries hit by the crisis, manufacturing is reportedly suffering the heaviest losses, with a 6.8 percent unemployment increase since October alone, the equivalent of 134,000 job cuts. In addition to manufacturing, losses have similarly been reported in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, construction and natural resources.

Economists had previously, for the most part, predicted full-time job losses of around 50,000 for last month, whilst more fearful estimates pegged the number at around 90,000 — in actuality, 79,500 full-time jobs were lost, with 18,200 part-time positions created in their place. Similar trends have been seen over the past five months across all employment sectors, and only the public sector seems to remain relatively unscathed internationally.

No province is free from the increased unemployment, with British Columbia seeing the largest decline of 23,000 jobs; Alberta suffered 15,000 cuts and Ontario an additional 11,000 — the three provinces have accounted for the steepest drop in employment over the past five months. The natural resource sector was hit badly in recent months, in particular in Alberta where gas, oil and coal extraction play an important part in the economy.

TD Bank economist Grant Bishop predicted that the three-month contraction of jobs totaling 272,000 thus far in 2009 is only a portion of the total losses expected before the end of the year, which Bishop predicts could eventually exceed 520,000. Another school of thought on the issue suggests that though things may progress over the year, the rate at which they are doing so has decelerated.

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