Canada shed three million jobs in the last two months due to the coronavirus lockdown, causing the unemployment rate to shoot up to 13 percent in April, the government reported Friday.
That rate more than doubled, following a small increase the previous month when restrictions started to be put in place, its statistical agency said.
The new rate is second only to the 13.1 percent observed during the recession of 1982, but lower than analysts had forecast.
Statistics Canada said the figure would have been much higher had it included a large number of people who wanted to work but could not job-hunt "presumably due to ongoing business closures and very limited opportunities to find new work."
Many also worked fewer hours, the agency said.
The declines over the past two months were observed in all provinces, but Quebec -- which has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities -- led the pack with 821,000 jobs lost.
Employment also dropped sharply in Canada's three largest cities -- Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Statistics Canada noted, however, that most of the newly unemployed were temporarily laid off, meaning they could return to work when restrictions are lifted.
