Stats Canada says that in March 2011 Unemployment inched down 0.1% however, employment figures hovered and remained unchanged. The good news is that the Employment numbers had losses in Part-Time jobs offset by increases in Full-Time positions, which is better for the economy overall (in my opinion).
Overall employment was unchanged in March, as gains in full-time work were offset by declines in part time. The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 7.7%. Over the past 12 months, employment has risen by 1.8% (+305,000).
Employment being up 1.8% over the year suggests Canada is recovering (Slowly) from the great Economic implosion of 2009, but there is still a long way to go.
Full-time employment rose by 91,000 in March, and was offset by a decline of 92,000 in part time. This large full-time increase brought gains in full-time employment to 251,000 (+1.8%) over the past 12 months, while part time increased by 54,000 (+1.7%).
The full-time employment increases over the past year is a good thing. The increases were most noticed this past month with men 25 and over, while the losses were with youth 15-24 and women over 55 years old.
This graph is a bit more indicative of the Canadian recovery  from the bad days of 2009, slow but sure dropping of the Unemployed, but a long way off from the days of wine and roses of 2008.
The Big Table
As usual I include for my own interest, as much as anything else, the big table for employment.
Labour force characteristics by age and sex
| Feb 2011 | March 2011 | Feb to March 2011 |
March 2010 to March 2011 |
Feb to March 2011 |
March 2010 to March 2011 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 27,866.5 | 27,889.2 | 22.7 | 338.5 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Labour force | 18,678.0 | 18,663.1 | -14.9 | 231.3 | -0.1 | 1.3 |
| Employment | 17,229.6 | 17,228.1 | -1.5 | 304.6 | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| Full-time | 13,843.1 | 13,933.7 | 90.6 | 250.8 | 0.7 | 1.8 |
| Part-time | 3,386.5 | 3,294.4 | -92.1 | 53.8 | -2.7 | 1.7 |
| Unemployment | 1,448.5 | 1,435.0 | -13.5 | -73.3 | -0.9 | -4.9 |
| Participation rate | 67.0 | 66.9 | -0.1 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.8 | 7.7 | -0.1 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.8 | 61.8 | 0.0 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 19.7 | 19.1 | -0.6 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,458.8 | 4,458.6 | -0.2 | -1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Labour force | 2,888.5 | 2,873.5 | -15.0 | -24.7 | -0.5 | -0.9 |
| Employment | 2,475.8 | 2,459.2 | -16.6 | 11.7 | -0.7 | 0.5 |
| Full-time | 1,286.1 | 1,298.8 | 12.7 | 22.6 | 1.0 | 1.8 |
| Part-time | 1,189.7 | 1,160.4 | -29.3 | -10.9 | -2.5 | -0.9 |
| Unemployment | 412.7 | 414.3 | 1.6 | -36.3 | 0.4 | -8.1 |
| Participation rate | 64.8 | 64.4 | -0.4 | -0.6 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.3 | 14.4 | 0.1 | -1.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 55.5 | 55.2 | -0.3 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 48.1 | 47.2 | -0.9 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,451.1 | 11,462.6 | 11.5 | 168.4 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Labour force | 8,351.0 | 8,377.8 | 26.8 | 157.6 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Employment | 7,783.1 | 7,815.5 | 32.4 | 207.7 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
| Full-time | 7,155.0 | 7,204.9 | 49.9 | 157.9 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
| Part-time | 628.2 | 610.5 | -17.7 | 49.7 | -2.8 | 8.9 |
| Unemployment | 567.9 | 562.3 | -5.6 | -50.1 | -1.0 | -8.2 |
| Participation rate | 72.9 | 73.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.8 | 6.7 | -0.1 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.0 | 68.2 | 0.2 | 0.8 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 8.1 | 7.8 | -0.3 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,956.5 | 11,968.0 | 11.5 | 171.4 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Labour force | 7,438.6 | 7,411.8 | -26.8 | 98.3 | -0.4 | 1.3 |
| Employment | 6,970.6 | 6,953.4 | -17.2 | 85.2 | -0.2 | 1.2 |
| Full-time | 5,402.0 | 5,429.9 | 27.9 | 70.2 | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Part-time | 1,568.7 | 1,523.5 | -45.2 | 15.0 | -2.9 | 1.0 |
| Unemployment | 467.9 | 458.4 | -9.5 | 13.1 | -2.0 | 2.9 |
| Participation rate | 62.2 | 61.9 | -0.3 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.3 | 6.2 | -0.1 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.3 | 58.1 | -0.2 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 22.5 | 21.9 | -0.6 | -0.1 | … | … |
Related CANSIM table 282-0087.
Addendum
What were the Employment numbers like for March 2010 ? Click back there and see, remember every month I post these numbers.
