Article source: ConstructConnect

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in its Employment Situation report, says the U.S. shed 710,000 jobs in March 2020. Statistics Canada, in its Labour Force Survey report, spells out a drop of 1.010 million jobs north of the border in the latest month.

The fact the U.S. jobs figure held up better than the Canadian, in relative terms, has to do with a timing issue.

In most months, the U.S. and Canadian jobs results are published on the same day (and it’s normally a Friday, unless there is a holiday standing in the way).

In March 2020, ‒ the month (so far) in which there was the greatest adjustment in employment in all modern history, ‒ Canadian results were delayed by a week versus the U.S. numbers. (The words ‘so far’ have been inserted in brackets in the foregoing sentence because April’s negative findings, to be published in early May, are likely to be even more extreme.)
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