Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has cut its workforce in Canada by 2% as sustained high interest rates push that nation's economy toward a recession.
A spokeswoman for PwC confirmed the reduction, reported earlier by the Globe and Mail newspaper, without giving further details of the layoffs. With the company's website saying it employs about 7,700 people in Canada, the cut would amount to about 150 people.
The Canadian economy looks to have entered a technical recession this year as the Bank of Canada holds interest rates at multi-decade highs to combat inflation.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's building in Toronto
Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Preliminary data show output contracted 0.1% in the third quarter after registering a 0.2% decline in the previous three months, meeting the two-consecutive quarters of slowing activity needed to qualify as a recession.
The Internal Revenue Service's contingency plans for a government shutdown are currently unknown, with the web page for the most recent plan from last December returning an error message as of Friday afternoon.
Entry-level job postings for financial services fell 24% since last January, due to AI automating tasks traditionally performed by junior talent, according to Randstad.