Stats Canada posted the January Labor Force Survey for 2009 and the numbers are not good.
Employment Numbers
Employment fell by 129,000 jobs mostly full time (down 0.8%), in 2009.
“…In January, the drop in employment was most pronounced in manufacturing, where the net loss totalled 101,000. There were declines in a number of other industries as well. The only industry with notable gains was health care and social assistance, where employment increased by 31,000…”
So the manufacturing sector and full time Jobs have taken a beating.
Unemployment is up 0.6% with these numbers up to 7.2%
This increase in unemployment while expected is still not good news for those of us looking for jobs and for those holding onto their current careers by the skin of their teeth.
Bad News for Ontario
“…Ontario’s employment drop of 71,000 in January was its largest in over three decades. This decrease pushed the unemployment rate up 0.8 percentage points to 8.0%, the highest since November 1997. Since October 2008, employment in the province has fallen by 1.9% (-125,000) and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.3 percentage points….”
Unemployment rising more than a full point for a 14 month period is not a very good thing, that is for sure.
Very Bad News for Men My Age
“…Employment fell by 111,000 among the core age group (adults aged 25 to 54), with men accounting for nearly two-thirds of the decline. The unemployment rate for core-age adults jumped 0.8 percentage points to 6.2%, their highest rate since November 2004….”
That is not very heartening for a man like me in his late 40’s either.
All in all as depressing numbers as I suspected there would be, sorry folks doesn’t look good right now, but we can be optimistic for the future.
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.
Glum news indeed. I’ve heard there is a lag between the US economy and the Canadian. The US economy slows first, then the Canadian. There is a lag between their recovery and ours too.
Good luck in the job search.