Canada sheds 42,000 jobs in May, pushing unemployment rate to 8.4 percent

Canada sheds 42,000 jobs in May

TORONTO — Canada lost 42,000 jobs in May as the unemployment rate jumped to the highest level in 11 years.

Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 8.4 percent in May from eight percent the previous month.

Statistics Canada announced Friday that since the recession began in Canada last October, 363,000 workers have lost their jobs, with 234,000 of those coming in Canada’s most populous province of Ontario.

The U.S.-equivalent of 42,000 jobs lost based on labor market size would be 420,000. The U.S. labor market is about 10 times the size of Canada’s.