In October, Canada added 31,000 jobs to its economy, and unemployment declined for the fifth month in a row.

The most recent Labour Force Survey results from Statistics Canada covered the week of October 10 to 16. Many provinces had conducted vaccination proof-of-concept projects that week. Capacity limits had been lifted in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, and they had been replaced by proof-of-vaccination requirements.

Gains in certain industries were counterbalanced by job losses in others. The retail trade business, for example, expanded for the first time since June, while job losses in hotels and food services halted part of the expansion.

Unemployment declined for the fifth month in a row in October, down to 6.7 percent. It was the lowest incidence in 20 months, but not nearly at the pre-pandemic record of 5.7% in February 2020.

While it appears that the economy is on the mend, some analysts believe that chronic labor shortages are impeding progress.

According to Nathan Janzen, a senior economist at RBC, the number of unemployed people is lower than what it would take to restore employment in the hospitality and foodservice industries to pre-pandemic levels. Because of the high development in areas such as professional and technical jobs, it appears that there will be a shortage of workers in hard-hit industries.

After a period of unemployment, fewer workers returned to their jobs in lodging and food services, manufacturing, and retail commerce. This shows that the pandemic did not affect all industries equally.

“[Labour markets] haven’t totally recovered from the 2020 shock, but they’re getting there, and stories of labor shortages aren’t going away anytime soon.” In a report, Janzen stated.

Job gaps will be difficult to fill, according to Leah Nord, senior director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and there is no “silver bullet” solution to skill shortages.

“We won’t achieve sustained economic growth unless we build inclusive and sustainable talent pipelines,” Nord said in a statement. “Before we can find a reason to celebrate, Canada needs a genuine plan to solve its structural workforce difficulties, which were well entrenched before COVID.”

The employment rate for recent immigrants is still high. After coming to a halt in 2020, the number of very recent immigrants to Canada has surged in recent months. Although only 184,000 newcomers arrived in Canada last year, the country has already welcomed 267,000 permanent residents this year.

Those who have been in Canada for less than five years are considered “very recent immigrants” by Statistics Canada. In October, compared to the previous year, there were more very recent immigrants, and they were more likely to be employed. The employment rate among this category of immigrants was 71%, approximately six percentage points higher than in October of this year.

In October, the employment rate for immigrants who had been in Canada for more than five years was about 60 percent, down less than one percentage point from October 2019. On the dot, the employment rate for Canadian-born people was 61 percent.