Montréal: Second most resilient metropolitan economy in both Canada and the United States

With an estimated overall drop in employment of only 5.7% between February 2020 and July 2020, Greater Montréal is doing well compared to other major cities in Canada and the United States. In fact, Phoenix is the only metropolitan area whose drop in employment has been slightly lighter than Montréal’s over the past six months.

Towards the beginning of the pandemic, the level of employment in Greater Montréal fell rapidly to a significant low in April (-18.0% compared to February); however, the gradual lockdown lift over the past few months has allowed many sectors to bounce back, especially those that were most heavily affected by social distancing measures, such as cultural and recreation services, hospitality and food services, as well as wholesale and retail trade. All in all, employment in the metropolitan area started to pick up in May and has grown by + 15.1% over the past four months (April to July).