Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the number of employed people fell by 1,993,800 m-o-m in April (or -11.0 percent m-o-m), while economists had forecast a drop of 4,000,000 and after an unrevised decline of 1,010,700 in the previous month. The employment decline in April was the biggest on the record.

Meanwhile, Canada's unemployment surged to 13.0 percent in April from 7.8 percent in March, exceeding economists' forecast for 18.0 percent. Over the period since comparable data became available in 1976, the April unemployment rate was second only to the 13.1 percent observed in December 1982.

According to the report, full-time employment decreased by 1,472,000 (or -9.7 percent m-o-m) in April, while part-time jobs declined by 521,900 (or -17.1 percent m-o-m).

In April, the number of public sector employees fell by 76,800 (or -2.0 percent m-o-m), while the number of private sector employees tumbled by 1,874,000 (or -16.2 percent m-o-m). At the same time, the number of self-employed dropped by 43,100 (or -1.5 percent m-o-m) last month.

Sector-wise, employment plunged both in goods-producing (-15.8 percent m-o-m) and service-producing (-9.6 percent m-o-m) businesses.