Stats Canada pointed out that the Canadian Economy (in terms of working and jobs) is treading water and not getting any worse, but not flourishing either, in their report Labour Force Survey for July 2015 published this past Friday.
The story is a little more heartening if you look at the year-over-year numbers:
Compared with 12 months earlier, employment increased by 161,000 or 0.9%, the result of more full-time work. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked rose 1.2%.
I am confident that if I were a Tory candidate, I would quote that part of the report. However, if I were in the opposition, I’d point out how stagnant job creation has become month over month (“… nice hair though…”).
CANSIM table 282-0087.
You can see the levelling off in the graph for the past little while.
Last week in my best of post Cheap Gold, Cheap Oil, Weak Dollar, Election Week 1 and #BestMoneyStories, I ranted about how commodities and oil price dropping is hurting the west and that is well highlighted in this report:
Despite little change in the level of employment in Alberta, the unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 6.0% in July as more people searched for work. Since January, the unemployment rate in the province has increased by 1.5 percentage points.
This is a telling statement, with job losses in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as well, whereas Ontario and Quebec there are “more” jobs (see the table at the end of this post for more details).
It will be hard to argue this is good news (on the election front), but it isn’t disastrous news (although it is not very good news out west).
The Big Table
As I mentioned let us look at this, province by province.
| June 2015 | July 2015 | Std error1 | June to July 2015 | July 2014 to July 2015 | |
| thousands (except rates) | thousands (except rates) | thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | |||||
| Population | 442.8 | 442.5 | … | -0.3 | -1.3 |
| Labour force | 270.5 | 268.3 | 2.0 | -2.2 | -1.7 |
| Employment | 237.1 | 236.5 | 2.1 | -0.6 | -1.3 |
| Full-time | 204.4 | 205.5 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 5.9 |
| Part-time | 32.7 | 31.0 | 2.1 | -1.7 | -7.2 |
| Unemployment | 33.4 | 31.8 | 2.0 | -1.6 | -0.4 |
| Participation rate | 61.1 | 60.6 | 0.5 | -0.5 | -0.2 |
| Unemployment rate | 12.3 | 11.9 | 0.7 | -0.4 | 0.0 |
| Employment rate | 53.5 | 53.4 | 0.5 | -0.1 | -0.2 |
| Prince Edward Island | |||||
| Population | 120.9 | 120.9 | … | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Labour force | 82.1 | 81.7 | 0.6 | -0.4 | 0.0 |
| Employment | 73.0 | 72.2 | 0.6 | -0.8 | -1.9 |
| Full-time | 59.9 | 59.7 | 0.9 | -0.2 | -2.3 |
| Part-time | 13.2 | 12.5 | 0.7 | -0.7 | 0.3 |
| Unemployment | 9.1 | 9.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.9 |
| Participation rate | 67.9 | 67.6 | 0.5 | -0.3 | -0.1 |
| Unemployment rate | 11.1 | 11.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 2.3 |
| Employment rate | 60.4 | 59.7 | 0.5 | -0.7 | -1.7 |
| Nova Scotia | |||||
| Population | 785.2 | 785.8 | … | 0.6 | 3.0 |
| Labour force | 485.0 | 489.3 | 2.6 | 4.3 | -3.3 |
| Employment | 446.4 | 449.5 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
| Full-time | 364.2 | 369.4 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 7.6 |
| Part-time | 82.2 | 80.1 | 3.3 | -2.1 | -3.8 |
| Unemployment | 38.7 | 39.8 | 2.4 | 1.1 | -7.1 |
| Participation rate | 61.8 | 62.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | -0.6 |
| Unemployment rate | 8.0 | 8.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | -1.4 |
| Employment rate | 56.9 | 57.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| New Brunswick | |||||
| Population | 621.9 | 621.9 | … | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Labour force | 390.5 | 390.4 | 2.2 | -0.1 | 0.4 |
| Employment | 348.2 | 347.5 | 2.3 | -0.7 | -3.7 |
| Full-time | 293.2 | 297.7 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| Part-time | 55.0 | 49.8 | 2.7 | -5.2 | -7.9 |
| Unemployment | 42.2 | 42.9 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 4.0 |
| Participation rate | 62.8 | 62.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Unemployment rate | 10.8 | 11.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| Employment rate | 56.0 | 55.9 | 0.4 | -0.1 | -0.6 |
| Quebec | |||||
| Population | 6,841.5 | 6,845.1 | … | 3.6 | 39.0 |
| Labour force | 4,429.5 | 4,438.5 | 14.8 | 9.0 | 27.7 |
| Employment | 4,075.5 | 4,097.2 | 14.8 | 21.7 | 43.7 |
| Full-time | 3,294.1 | 3,297.4 | 21.4 | 3.3 | 57.1 |
| Part-time | 781.4 | 799.8 | 19.6 | 18.4 | -13.3 |
| Unemployment | 354.0 | 341.3 | 13.2 | -12.7 | -16.1 |
| Participation rate | 64.7 | 64.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Unemployment rate | 8.0 | 7.7 | 0.3 | -0.3 | -0.4 |
| Employment rate | 59.6 | 59.9 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Ontario | |||||
| Population | 11,378.1 | 11,390.4 | … | 12.3 | 113.4 |
| Labour force | 7,426.0 | 7,424.1 | 19.7 | -1.9 | -11.5 |
| Employment | 6,945.7 | 6,945.7 | 19.6 | 0.0 | 67.4 |
| Full-time | 5,647.0 | 5,642.4 | 28.3 | -4.6 | 131.0 |
| Part-time | 1,298.7 | 1,303.4 | 25.6 | 4.7 | -63.5 |
| Unemployment | 480.3 | 478.4 | 16.9 | -1.9 | -78.9 |
| Participation rate | 65.3 | 65.2 | 0.2 | -0.1 | -0.7 |
| Unemployment rate | 6.5 | 6.4 | 0.2 | -0.1 | -1.1 |
| Employment rate | 61.0 | 61.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Manitoba | |||||
| Population | 986.4 | 987.6 | … | 1.2 | 10.1 |
| Labour force | 671.8 | 669.7 | 2.5 | -2.1 | 8.9 |
| Employment | 636.1 | 632.3 | 2.5 | -3.8 | 6.0 |
| Full-time | 512.1 | 509.7 | 3.8 | -2.4 | 9.3 |
| Part-time | 124.1 | 122.6 | 3.6 | -1.5 | -3.3 |
| Unemployment | 35.7 | 37.4 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 2.9 |
| Participation rate | 68.1 | 67.8 | 0.3 | -0.3 | 0.2 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.3 | 5.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Employment rate | 64.5 | 64.0 | 0.3 | -0.5 | -0.1 |
| Saskatchewan | |||||
| Population | 861.1 | 861.9 | … | 0.8 | 8.7 |
| Labour force | 604.7 | 599.6 | 2.6 | -5.1 | 8.8 |
| Employment | 576.1 | 568.7 | 2.7 | -7.4 | -2.7 |
| Full-time | 474.8 | 464.6 | 3.7 | -10.2 | -10.3 |
| Part-time | 101.4 | 104.2 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 7.7 |
| Unemployment | 28.6 | 30.9 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 11.5 |
| Participation rate | 70.2 | 69.6 | 0.3 | -0.6 | 0.4 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.7 | 5.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 |
| Employment rate | 66.9 | 66.0 | 0.3 | -0.9 | -1.0 |
| Alberta | |||||
| Population | 3,354.0 | 3,360.4 | … | 6.4 | 71.1 |
| Labour force | 2,441.5 | 2,446.1 | 10.0 | 4.6 | 61.0 |
| Employment | 2,302.5 | 2,298.2 | 10.2 | -4.3 | 21.0 |
| Full-time | 1,918.9 | 1,920.5 | 14.2 | 1.6 | 23.1 |
| Part-time | 383.6 | 377.7 | 12.7 | -5.9 | -2.1 |
| Unemployment | 139.1 | 147.8 | 7.9 | 8.7 | 39.9 |
| Participation rate | 72.8 | 72.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.7 | 6.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Employment rate | 68.6 | 68.4 | 0.3 | -0.2 | -0.8 |
| British Columbia | |||||
| Population | 3,874.4 | 3,879.5 | … | 5.1 | 47.0 |
| Labour force | 2,449.5 | 2,452.3 | 10.1 | 2.8 | 28.4 |
| Employment | 2,306.6 | 2,306.0 | 10.1 | -0.6 | 28.9 |
| Full-time | 1,834.1 | 1,818.4 | 14.9 | -15.7 | 29.9 |
| Part-time | 472.5 | 487.7 | 14.4 | 15.2 | -0.8 |
| Unemployment | 142.9 | 146.2 | 8.2 | 3.3 | -0.7 |
| Participation rate | 63.2 | 63.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.8 | 6.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | -0.1 |
| Employment rate | 59.5 | 59.4 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.0 |
…
not applicable
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.
Job Reports from 2015
So far here are the employment reports on this site:
