Labor Force Survey Provides Good News

To the employment picture, things are looking up, according to Statistics Canada. In August, employment increased by 27,000, led by part-time work and among private sector employees. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1percentage points to 8.7% as more people participated in the labour market. However, since the start of this recession, Canadian unemployment has been less than in the US, which has lost approximately six million jobs since the beginning of their recession in 2008.

According to Statistics Canada, since employment peaked in October 2008, total employment has fallen by 387,000 (-2.3%). The trend in employment, however, has changed recently. Over the last five months, employment has fallen by 31,000, a much smaller decline than the 357,000 observed during the five months following October 2008.

Women age 25 to 54 took up most of the increase in employment in August, and in terms of provincial gains, all provinces did well, with the exception of Saskatchewan, which had a notable decline in its employment rates.

From an industry point of view, increases in employment were observed in a number of industries in August: retail and wholesale trade, finance, insurance, real estate and leasing. Losses arose in business, building and other support services, as well as educational services.