Friday, just before the beginning of the Labour Day long weekend (ironically), Stats Canada published their Labour Force Survey for August 2015. This should have given more fodder for the Election engines of all sides, but as usual, the information is confusing and can be interpreted differently.
The raw numbers show 12,000 more jobs in August and which pushed the Employment numbers up 0.1%. However (and luckily for the election), seasonally adjusted Unemployment increased 0.2% to 7.0%. The unemployment numbers add more to the “We are in a recession” argument, however, there are more folks working, as well.
The report points out the highlights of the report nicely.
In August, employment increased among women aged 55 and older, while it edged down for men and women aged 25 to 54. There was little employment change among the other demographic groups.Provincially, employment rose in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and New Brunswick. There was little change in the other provinces.
So not a lot of good or bad news. No good news for old dudes like me (over 55) but no decrease either.
The interesting comment comes in where the jobs are being created:
Employment increased in public administration and educational services, while it was little changed in the remaining industries.The number of public sector employees was up in August, while self-employment edged down. At the same time, private sector employment was little changed.
I am never happy to see employment increasing in the public sector, an economy should not grow on that, it needs the private sector to help grow wealth and jobs.
Job Reports from 2015
So far here are the employment reports on this site:
