Transportation Job Losses Slow As Canada Starts To Recover

Job losses in Canada's transportation and warehousing sector slowed in May as the country's labor market improved.

The sector shed 24,000 jobs, or 2.8%, during the month, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Overall, Canada added nearly 290,000 jobs during the month, an increase of 1.8%.

While transportation and warehousing underperformed other sectors, the data in the Labor Force Survey represents a significant improvement over April. The sector saw a decline of more than 10% during that month. 

The trucking industry accounts for the largest share of the transport and warehousing sector, which also includes far more troubled airlines.

The overall employment data came in much stronger than expected. It came as Canada's provinces began allowing more businesses to reopen. 

"This is the kind of surprise we like. We may have only regained a small slice of March and April's unprecedented job losses, but the story could have been much worse," TD Bank senior economist Brian Depratto wrote today. 

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