Better Employment Numbers September 2009

After a very long weekend of Turkey and Family we return (and after my favorite WKRP segment) to see employment numbers improving in Canada.

Employment increased for the second consecutive month, up 31,000 in September, driven by large full-time gains. The unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 8.4%, the first monthly decline since the beginning of the labour market downturn in the fall of 2008.

So the Employment numbers are better (and the increase is in the area of Full Time employment which is a good thing) and unemployment is down, and well below what is being seen in the U.S. as well.

Unemployment Down

A drop from August to September is a good thing to see, however, year over year unemployment is still up 2.2% over last year at this time (now at 8.4%).

No real huge signs of massive rehirings going on in the Ottawa area, still more discussions of how budgets will be spent and whether High Tech start up companies can pick up the slack  from other High Tech Dinosaurs in the area.

For those still looking for work these numbers are encouraging, but certainly not anything to think that “Happy Days are Here Again”, either.

Previous Months Unemployment for 2009

• Unemployment Up Sharply to 7.2% in January 2009 the impact of the great meltdown was starting to settle in.
• Bad Unemployment and No Pensions for February 2009 things were very not good back then.
• Unemployment Up Again to 8.0% March 2009 not too surprising really. March was still deep in the heart of the meltdown.
• Unemployment Up a Bit for April 2009 so these are the actual Unemployed count from Stats Canada
• More Folks on EI in April 2009 – a sad time still
• Unemployment Numbers up a Little – The numbers for June 2009
• For July 2009 Unemployment Rate Hovers – is this a plateau? Hard to tell.
• Better Employment Numbers September 2009 – shows that life started to get better as 2009 went on. We hoped.
• Less Employed in October 2009 8.6% Unemployed – OK so our hopes were dashed for a while.
• November 2009 Employment Numbers: A Festivus Miracle! a month early for Festivus, but good news, is good news.
• Nothing New on Jobs Front for December 2009 the year did not end with a bang unfortunately.