Our friends at Stats Canada published their Labour Survey for February 2013 on Friday and put out some better news for the Canadian economy. Thanks to more folks out on the job hunt, this increase in employment wasn’t really reflected in the unemployment rate, which stayed at 7.0% (unfortunately).
The employment graph shows more reasons to be optimistic:
While the unemployment numbers didn’t get better, they didn’t get worse either, so I guess seeing a flat line on the curve is “no news”:
I guess it could be worse?
The one section I always read is the analysis by age section and it continues to be quite telling (in my opinion):
Among people aged 55 and over, employment increased for the second consecutive month, up 32,000 in February and mostly among men. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment among people in this age group rose by 171,000 (+5.4%), partly a result of population ageing.
While employment among people aged 25 to 54 was little changed in February, it was up by 116,000 (+1.0%) on a year-over-year basis.
Among youths aged 15 to 24, employment was little changed in February and the unemployment rate was 13.6%. Employment among youths has been on a slight upward trend since August 2012.
The lost generation in terms of employment continues to find it hard to find jobs (unemployment of 13.6% is pretty darn horrible), I think it is because all those old farts (like yours truly) are hanging around, and should give up some of our cushy jobs?
The Big Table
As usual I include one of the full data tables from Stats Canada, but you should go over to the Stats Canada site and look at all of these tables, not just get your info from know-it-all bloggers or media talking heads:
Labour force characteristics by age and sex Seasonally adjusted
| January 2013 | February 2013 | Jan to Feb 2013 | Feb 2012 to Feb 2013 | Jan to Feb 2013 | Feb 2012 to Feb 2013 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
|
Population |
28,501.2 | 28,526.3 | 25.1 | 345.4 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Labour force | 18,968.5 | 19,028.9 | 60.4 | 290.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Employment | 17,645.7 | 17,696.4 | 50.7 | 336.2 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Full-time | 14,339.4 | 14,373.0 | 33.6 | 308.5 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| Part-time | 3,306.2 | 3,323.4 | 17.2 | 27.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| Unemployment | 1,322.8 | 1,332.6 | 9.8 | -45.8 | 0.7 | -3.3 |
| Participation rate | 66.6 | 66.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.9 | 62.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 18.7 | 18.8 | 0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,454.7 | 4,453.8 | -0.9 | -2.4 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Labour force | 2,831.5 | 2,843.4 | 11.9 | 22.5 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| Employment | 2,449.4 | 2,456.8 | 7.4 | 48.8 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Full-time | 1,301.0 | 1,283.3 | -17.7 | 13.1 | -1.4 | 1.0 |
| Part-time | 1,148.3 | 1,173.5 | 25.2 | 35.7 | 2.2 | 3.1 |
| Unemployment | 382.1 | 386.6 | 4.5 | -26.3 | 1.2 | -6.4 |
| Participation rate | 63.6 | 63.8 | 0.2 | 0.5 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 13.5 | 13.6 | 0.1 | -1.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 55.0 | 55.2 | 0.2 | 1.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 46.9 | 47.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,770.7 | 11,783.7 | 13.0 | 174.4 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Labour force | 8,544.5 | 8,556.8 | 12.3 | 128.0 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Employment | 8,021.3 | 8,047.2 | 25.9 | 144.8 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
| Full-time | 7,418.2 | 7,448.3 | 30.1 | 162.5 | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| Part-time | 603.0 | 598.9 | -4.1 | -17.7 | -0.7 | -2.9 |
| Unemployment | 523.2 | 509.6 | -13.6 | -16.8 | -2.6 | -3.2 |
| Participation rate | 72.6 | 72.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.1 | 6.0 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.1 | 68.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.5 | 7.4 | -0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,275.8 | 12,288.9 | 13.1 | 173.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 7,592.5 | 7,628.7 | 36.2 | 139.9 | 0.5 | 1.9 |
| Employment | 7,175.0 | 7,192.3 | 17.3 | 142.5 | 0.2 | 2.0 |
| Full-time | 5,620.2 | 5,641.3 | 21.1 | 132.8 | 0.4 | 2.4 |
| Part-time | 1,554.9 | 1,551.0 | -3.9 | 9.6 | -0.3 | 0.6 |
| Unemployment | 417.5 | 436.3 | 18.8 | -2.7 | 4.5 | -0.6 |
| Participation rate | 61.8 | 62.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.5 | 5.7 | 0.2 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.4 | 58.5 | 0.1 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.7 | 21.6 | -0.1 | -0.3 | … | … |
The 2013 Job Picture
- Less Jobs in January in Canada not a good start to 2013.
- More Jobs in February in Canada which is better than January.
- Job Picture Less Rosey in March for Canada 2013 seems to have had it’s ups and downs.
- Employment Hovers for April in Canada better than down.
- More Jobs for May in Canada never a bad thing.
- Employment Unchanged for June in Canada, swooning in the summer.
- 39000 Less Jobs in July in Canada ? Oh dear…
- More Part-time Jobs in Canada in August which isn’t a bad thing, but full-time would be better.
- More Working in September in Canada ? Good!
- Some More Jobs in Canada (but not a lot more) for October in 2013
- Better Job News in Canada for November ’tis the season.
- Ugly Job Numbers to End 2013 not the best way to end the year.
