Employment, consumer confidence improving, but COVID-19 still casts shadow over Canadian economy

The national market might see stronger purchasing power later this year, with the economy adding 952,900 jobs in June, according to figures from Statistics Canada.

This is on top of the roughly 290,000 new additions in May, bringing the total over that two-month span to around 40% of the 3 million jobs lost in March and April, Bloomberg reported.

Economists remained unconvinced of a market recovery anytime soon, however.

“While [these] numbers are encouraging, there are almost 1.8 million lost jobs yet to be recovered,” said Brian DePratto, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank. “It is still a long way to the finish line.”

Still, Canadians’ outlook towards the economy and the housing market has been steadily improving from the all-time lows in April, if a recent Bloomberg-Nanos survey is any indication.

As of mid-June, the index was at 42.86. Around 42% of respondents said that they are bracing for home price declines in the next six months – a significant improvement from the 49% four weeks prior.

“Although consumer confidence remains net negative, there are emerging signs in the data of a potential confidence recovery,” said Nik Nanos, chief data scientist at Nanos Research. “Perceptions on the future strength of the Canadian economy has improved seven points compared to four weeks ago.”

MBN

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