Our friends at Stats Canada published their Labour Force Survey for June 2014 on Friday and the news is not great, Employment is somewhat the same and unemployment is up 0.1% from May. The unemployment increase was mostly having more folks looking for jobs last month.
Stats Canada’s official word is:
Compared with 12 months earlier, employment increased by 72,000 or 0.4%. This was the lowest year-over-year growth rate since February 2010, when year-over-year employment growth resumed following the 2008-2009Â labour market downturn.
Not to be too negative, at least employment increased, year over year, and didn’t drop, but the economy is not in a high state of job creation now.
A very telling commentary on the report is:
Employment decreased among youths aged 15 to 24 and people aged 25 to 54 in June, while it increased among people aged 55 and over.
So old farts like yours truly are finding jobs, but the “engine” of the economy the younger folks aren’t? I have stated this before, but it needs to be repeated, old guys like me being employed is all fine, and my guess is many of us are not going to give up working for a long time. This seems to be creating a virtual log jam, not freeing up jobs for younger folks to move up. What is more interesting is more companies are simply not filling jobs being vacated by retirees and such, at least that is what I am seeing from my vantage point. Let’s hope the economy finds a way to remedy this problem.
Not good to see this graph ticking up as well.
Summer Student Employment
The Stats Canada folks collect data about summer student jobs, but they don’t include it in the big numbers, but they do publish some information:
In June, the employment rate among returning students aged 20 to 24, that is, the number of employed as a percentage of their population was 67.4%, similar to that of June 2013. The unemployment rate was 12.0% for this group of students, little changed from 12 months earlier.
The Big Table
There are some really interesting tables of data published with this report, but this month we shall look at Employment by Age (in more detail):
Table 1
Labour force characteristics by age and sex Seasonally adjusted
| May 2014 | June 2014 | Standard error1 | May to June 2014 | June 2013 to June 2014 | May to June 2014 | June 2013 to June 2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | |||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | |||||||
| Â Population | 28,996.2 | 29,036.8 | … | 40.6 | 380.2 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Labour force | 19,173.9 | 19,190.2 | 29.1 | 16.3 | 86.5 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Employment | 17,830.1 | 17,820.7 | 28.9 | -9.4 | 72.3 | -0.1 | 0.4 |
| Full-time | 14,396.4 | 14,429.9 | 39.2 | 33.5 | 35.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Part-time | 3,433.7 | 3,390.7 | 36.1 | -43.0 | 36.6 | -1.3 | 1.1 |
| Unemployment | 1,343.8 | 1,369.5 | 24.9 | 25.7 | 14.2 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| Participation rate | 66.1 | 66.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -0.6 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.0 | 7.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.5 | 61.4 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 19.3 | 19.0 | 0.2 | -0.3 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | |||||||
| Population | 4,426.9 | 4,423.7 | … | -3.2 | -26.7 | -0.1 | -0.6 |
| Labour force | 2,855.4 | 2,807.6 | 17.2 | -47.8 | -69.7 | -1.7 | -2.4 |
| Employment | 2,474.7 | 2,431.1 | 15.8 | -43.6 | -50.2 | -1.8 | -2.0 |
| Full-time | 1,281.0 | 1,256.6 | 18.6 | -24.4 | -29.6 | -1.9 | -2.3 |
| Part-time | 1,193.7 | 1,174.5 | 19.7 | -19.2 | -20.6 | -1.6 | -1.7 |
| Unemployment | 380.6 | 376.5 | 14.6 | -4.1 | -19.4 | -1.1 | -4.9 |
| Participation rate | 64.5 | 63.5 | 0.4 | -1.0 | -1.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 13.3 | 13.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 55.9 | 55.0 | 0.4 | -0.9 | -0.8 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 48.2 | 48.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | |||||||
| Population | 12,035.8 | 12,057.9 | … | 22.1 | 207.7 | 0.2 | 1.8 |
| Labour force | 8,637.2 | 8,692.5 | 15.1 | 55.3 | 111.0 | 0.6 | 1.3 |
| Employment | 8,110.4 | 8,139.9 | 16.4 | 29.5 | 87.7 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Full-time | 7,447.5 | 7,503.5 | 22.0 | 56.0 | 73.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| Part-time | 662.9 | 636.4 | 18.0 | -26.5 | 13.9 | -4.0 | 2.2 |
| Unemployment | 526.8 | 552.6 | 14.5 | 25.8 | 23.3 | 4.9 | 4.4 |
| Participation rate | 71.8 | 72.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.1 | 6.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 67.4 | 67.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 8.2 | 7.8 | 0.2 | -0.4 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | |||||||
| Population | 12,533.5 | 12,555.2 | … | 21.7 | 199.3 | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Labour force | 7,681.3 | 7,690.1 | 16.6 | 8.8 | 45.2 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Employment | 7,245.0 | 7,249.6 | 16.4 | 4.6 | 34.7 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Full-time | 5,667.9 | 5,669.8 | 25.7 | 1.9 | -8.6 | 0.0 | -0.2 |
| Part-time | 1,577.1 | 1,579.8 | 24.0 | 2.7 | 43.3 | 0.2 | 2.8 |
| Unemployment | 436.4 | 440.5 | 13.3 | 4.1 | 10.4 | 0.9 | 2.4 |
| Participation rate | 61.3 | 61.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -0.6 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.7 | 5.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 57.8 | 57.7 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.8 | 21.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | … | … |
Jobs in 2014
What was the job market like in 2014?
- The Changing Landscape of Jobs in 2014: What to Expect?
- Unemployment Creeps Up for November 2014
- Unemployment is like it is 2008 Again
- Good Job Picture for September in Canada
- Moribund Job Growth in July in Canada
- Unemployment Ticks Up in Canada in June
- More (Part-time) Jobs in Canada in May 2014
- No Jobs, no jobs, no new jobs ?
- Young Folk Finding Jobs in Canada in March 2014
- Stagnant Job Picture in February
- Unemployment Down, but not that good news to start 2014
- Ugly Job Numbers to End 2013
Years ago, I came up with a plan that was good for new graduates, good for employers, and good for the government. This got that 20-24 year old group, the ones with that 12% unemployment rate, working and paying off their massive student loans, got an employer a grateful new grad for 2 years or more, and the government got a new taxpayer, which covered the costs of the program.
I brought this plan to The Honourable John Cummings, Member for Vancouver Island North. He brought it to his people in Vancouver, and they thought it was a great idea, and workable.
I am still waiting!
Maybe you should publish your idea? Doesn’t look like much is happening on your other front.