The True Post (Web News) More than 40,000 jobs were lost in the Canadian economy in July, keeping the unemployment rate at 6.9%.
That’s a multi-year high. Amid the situation, Toronto pub owner Cesar Mason said he’s been receiving hundreds of job applications but can’t afford to hire more employees due to economic uncertainty.
According to the data, the hardest-hit sector is the information, culture and entertainment industry, which includes restaurants. The sector lost 29,000 jobs in July. Cesar Mason, owner and operating partner of “The Pint Public House,” said he hires 40 to 50 people every year from April to the start of the baseball season, but this year his hiring has been very low. He said he gets 90 to 100 applications for a position, but he’s not able to hire because business is weak and customers are coming in less. “I can’t hire people just because I feel sorry for them, unless we really need them.”
According to the data, the job losses were mostly seen among young people, especially those aged 15 to 24. Cesar Mason said that most of the applications are also coming from young people, who are usually looking for their first or summer jobs. However, there is a shortage of vacancies in the industry.
“It’s really sad because these are the important and formative years where people learn social and teamwork skills from work,” he said. Cesar Mason said that the US tariff attacks are putting businesses in a precarious position, as many of the items they need come from the US and are not manufactured in Canada. For this reason, they have postponed plans to expand their businesses or start new programs.
Experts say the US tariff attacks are another difficult challenge for businesses, which came after inflation, supply chain problems and the pandemic. Simon Godrev, chief economist at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said small and medium-sized businesses are looking to hire fewer employees than usual and more businesses are planning to cut staff this year. David Gaines, founder and CEO of a small business lending company, said that due to the tariff attacks, businesses are adopting a defensive strategy, which is restricting hiring. He said that in the medium term, businesses will need to find new customers and improve supply chains, but this requires investment and hard work, which can be difficult in the current economic conditions.
