Another confusing message from Stats Canada on Friday, with Employment staying the same (year over year) however, unemployment is up 0.2% (year over year, seasonally adjusted). The more unemployed is actually attributable to a believable reason, more folks are looking for jobs last month, even though there are more employed folks (confused? don’t worry I am many times, and I have a Math degree).
The optimistic statement in the report was:
Compared with February 2014, full-time employment rose by 121,000 (+0.8%), while there was little change in part-time work. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked was up slightly (+0.2%).
An economy that creates more full-time jobs is healthier.
The other question is, where are the folks who weren’t looking for a job, coming from? Let us check the unemployment rate first, then there is another telling statement in the report.
So, who was looking for jobs?
While youth employment was virtually unchanged in February, their unemployment rate rose 0.5 percentage points to 13.3% as more youths looked for work.
More jobs for old folk over 55 too, shows the cracks in the recovery, which is youth unemployment. Old folk (such as myself) staying employed is fine, but youth unemployment is a very bad thing. That should be the biggest question in the coming election, but I somehow doubt it will be.
Employment by Age
Have a look at this table and see where the jobs are by age
Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted
| January 2015 | February 2015 | Std Err | Jan to Feb 2015 | Feb 2014 to Feb 2015 | Jan to Feb 2015 | Feb 2014 to Feb 2015 | |
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | |||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | |||||||
| Population | 29,139.2 | 29,160.7 | … | 21.5 | 305.6 | 0.1 | 1.1 |
|
Labour force | 19,148.4 | 19,197.6 | 29.0 | 49.2 | 91.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
|
Employment | 17,886.9 | 17,885.9 | 28.7 | -1.0 | 129.9 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
|
Full-time | 14,454.2 | 14,488.2 | 39.2 | 34.0 | 121.1 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
|
Part-time | 3,432.7 | 3,397.8 | 36.1 | -34.9 | 8.9 | -1.0 | 0.3 |
|
Unemployment | 1,261.5 | 1,311.7 | 24.6 | 50.2 | -38.6 | 4.0 | -2.9 |
| Participation rate | 65.7 | 65.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.6 | 6.8 | 0.1 | 0.2 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.4 | 61.3 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 19.2 | 19.0 | 0.2 | -0.2 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | |||||||
| Population | 4,451.4 | 4,446.9 | … | -4.5 | -42.5 | -0.1 | -0.9 |
| Labour force | 2,860.5 | 2,870.9 | 16.9 | 10.4 | 19.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Employment | 2,495.6 | 2,488.4 | 15.6 | -7.2 | 28.4 | -0.3 | 1.2 |
| Full-time | 1,286.5 | 1,266.2 | 18.8 | -20.3 | -16.9 | -1.6 | -1.3 |
| Part-time | 1,209.1 | 1,222.1 | 19.8 | 13.0 | 45.2 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| Unemployment | 364.9 | 382.6 | 14.5 | 17.7 | -8.6 | 4.9 | -2.2 |
| Participation rate | 64.3 | 64.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 12.8 | 13.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 56.1 | 56.0 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 1.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 48.4 | 49.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.3 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | |||||||
| Population | 12,074.8 | 12,087.5 | … | 12.7 | 169.9 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 8,636.1 | 8,674.0 | 15.3 | 37.9 | 78.8 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| Employment | 8,137.5 | 8,139.5 | 16.5 | 2.0 | 91.1 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| Full-time | 7,455.4 | 7,497.2 | 21.9 | 41.8 | 90.1 | 0.6 | 1.2 |
| Part-time | 682.1 | 642.3 | 17.9 | -39.8 | 1.0 | -5.8 | 0.2 |
| Unemployment | 498.6 | 534.5 | 14.3 | 35.9 | -12.3 | 7.2 | -2.2 |
| Participation rate | 71.5 | 71.8 | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.8 | 6.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 67.4 | 67.3 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 8.4 | 7.9 | 0.2 | -0.5 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | |||||||
| Population | 12,613.1 | 12,626.2 | … | 13.1 | 178.1 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 7,651.7 | 7,652.7 | 16.5 | 1.0 | -7.2 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Employment | 7,253.7 | 7,258.1 | 16.0 | 4.4 | 10.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Full-time | 5,712.2 | 5,724.7 | 24.9 | 12.5 | 47.8 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| Part-time | 1,541.5 | 1,533.4 | 23.7 | -8.1 | -37.3 | -0.5 | -2.4 |
| Unemployment | 398.0 | 394.6 | 13.2 | -3.4 | -17.7 | -0.9 | -4.3 |
| Participation rate | 60.7 | 60.6 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -0.9 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.2 | 5.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 57.5 | 57.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.3 | 21.1 | 0.3 | -0.1 | -0.5 | … | … |
…
not applicable
- Average standard error for change in two consecutive months. See “Sampling variability of estimates” in the section “About the Labour Force Survey” at the end of the publication Labour Force Information(Catalogue number71-001-X) for further explanations.
Note(s):
The sum of individual categories may not always add up to the total as a result of rounding.
Source(s):
CANSIM table 282-0087.
Unemployment is up yet our Government both at the provincial and federal levels seem to think everything is all fine.
To quote the LEGO Movie… Everything is awesome! so let’s just worry about how things are said to each other…