So on Friday we learned that the Canadian economy’s ability to create jobs is starting to stall (not good news for Canada, or for Ontario’s provincial government).
In the past 12 months, employment has grown by 1.3% (+223,000), primarily in Ontario and Alberta, and among private sector employees. Over this period, full-time employment increased 2.2% (+300,000), part-time work declined 2.3% (-77,000) and total actual hours worked rose by 2.6%.
While overall this is good news the fact that in the past month, unemployment has ticked up, and employment is holding steady, means really no new jobs. Canada has been somewhat insulated from the failure to recovery that happened in the U.S. (OK some call it a double dip recession), hopefully this is not a shape of things to come moment for us.
I have noticed a great number of folks in the 20-25 years age group that are having a lot of problems finding jobs in the Ottawa region. They end up getting multiple part time jobs, but none of them pay enough for them to thrive and succeed (but this is only a personal observation, I may be wrong). This lack of hope for lack of a better term is a concern for the future.
Unemployment “ticking up” 0.1% is never a good thing to see either.
The Big Table
For my regular readers, you know how much I love the detailed numbers, so here is one of the many big tables from Stats Canada that you should invest some time having a look at:
Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted
| July 2011 | August 2011 | July to August 2011 |
August 2010 to August 2011 |
July to August 2011 |
August 2010 to August 2011 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 28,002.1 | 28,032.7 | 30.6 | 322.0 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Labour force | 18,696.1 | 18,706.6 | 10.5 | 84.6 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Employment | 17,344.2 | 17,338.7 | -5.5 | 222.9 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Full-time | 14,016.6 | 14,042.3 | 25.7 | 300.2 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| Part-time | 3,327.6 | 3,296.4 | -31.2 | -77.3 | -0.9 | -2.3 |
| Unemployment | 1,351.9 | 1,367.9 | 16.0 | -138.3 | 1.2 | -9.2 |
| Participation rate | 66.8 | 66.7 | -0.1 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.2 | 7.3 | 0.1 | -0.8 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.9 | 61.9 | 0.0 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 19.2 | 19.0 | -0.2 | -0.7 | … | Â … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,457.6 | 4,457.6 | 0.0 | -3.6 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Labour force | 2,890.6 | 2,882.3 | -8.3 | -6.5 | -0.3 | -0.2 |
| Employment | 2,481.7 | 2,478.8 | -2.9 | 13.6 | -0.1 | 0.6 |
| Full-time | 1,299.1 | 1,295.2 | -3.9 | 30.3 | -0.3 | 2.4 |
| Part-time | 1,182.7 | 1,183.5 | 0.8 | -16.8 | 0.1 | -1.4 |
| Unemployment | 408.9 | 403.6 | -5.3 | -20.0 | -1.3 | -4.7 |
| Participation rate | 64.8 | 64.7 | -0.1 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.1 | 14.0 | -0.1 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 55.7 | 55.6 | -0.1 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 47.7 | 47.7 | 0.0 | -1.0 | … | Â … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,519.5 | 11,534.7 | 15.2 | 162.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 8,378.5 | 8,386.1 | 7.6 | 36.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Employment | 7,863.7 | 7,856.2 | -7.5 | 120.4 | -0.1 | 1.6 |
| Full-time | 7,254.2 | 7,253.6 | -0.6 | 130.8 | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| Part-time | 609.5 | 602.6 | -6.9 | -10.5 | -1.1 | -1.7 |
| Unemployment | 514.8 | 529.9 | 15.1 | -83.9 | 2.9 | -13.7 |
| Participation rate | 72.7 | 72.7 | 0.0 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.1 | 6.3 | 0.2 | -1.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.3 | 68.1 | -0.2 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.8 | 7.7 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | Â … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,025.0 | 12,040.4 | 15.4 | 163.1 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 7,427.1 | 7,438.1 | 11.0 | 54.5 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
| Employment | 6,998.8 | 7,003.7 | 4.9 | 88.9 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Full-time | 5,463.3 | 5,493.5 | 30.2 | 139.0 | 0.6 | 2.6 |
| Part-time | 1,535.5 | 1,510.2 | -25.3 | -50.1 | -1.6 | -3.2 |
| Unemployment | 428.3 | 434.3 | 6.0 | -34.6 | 1.4 | -7.4 |
| Participation rate | 61.8 | 61.8 | 0.0 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.8 | 5.8 | 0.0 | -0.6 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.2 | 58.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.9 | 21.6 | -0.3 | -1.0 | … | Â … |
I didn’t know the US wasn’t the only country going through this. Hopefully things will be fixed soon :-\