Statistics Canada released its monthly Labour Market Survey for November. It shows that, following a notable decrease last month, Canada’s economy lost 19,000 jobs again in November, raising the unemployment rate to 7.4 percent.  However, despite recent declines, employment still remains up 1.2 percent from November 2010.  And in Ontario, employment actually increased, and unemployment declined. (more…)

From Brittney Windatt and Strac Ivanov 

Following an increase in September, Statistics Canada reports an employment decline of 54,000 in October – all in full time, and predominantly in Ontario.  October’s loss pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 7.3 percent.

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From Brittney Windatt

Employment was little changed for the second consecutive month in August but the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percent to 7.3 percent.  This comes in a month in which the stock markets went through a wild roller coaster ride and we found that GDP growth in the second quarter of this year had turned negative (making it quite likely that we may be in a new recession).  The details do give some reasons for concern.
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from Brittney Windatt

Employment in Canada grew by 28,000 in June, continuing its rise for the third consecutive month.  According to June’s labour market survey report from Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate remains at 7.4 percent as the number of people participating in the labour market increased; however, since mid-2009, the unemployment rate has declined.

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from Brittney Windatt

The month of May brought a 1.6 percent increase in total employment over the previous 12 months, causing unemployment to drop 0.2 percent to 7.4 percent.  But a closer look paints a less optimistic picture: The increase in employment for the month of May was driven largely by a decline in the number of people looking for work and by more people becoming self-employed.  Private sector jobs growth remains weak.
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March 2011 was largely dominated by bad news for the economy: Most notably the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the deepening of the Libyan conflict. The disaster in Japan hit Canada’s local economy by disrupting the supply chains of local manufacturers. In Ontario, the impact on the automotive sector was particularly severe. The Honda plant in Alliston, for example, cut production by more than 50% indefinitely, apparently because the Japanese disaster made it impossible for it to source electrical parts that go into vehicles it assembles. The Libyan crisis also lead to some (potential as well as real) disruptions in the oil supply.  Employers typically respond to such signs of uncertainty by placing hiring decision on the backburner until the future becomes more clear (and brighter). So it was quite refreshing to see that Canada’s job market did actually quite well in March.
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Statistics Canada’s monthly job market survey for February 2011 was released on Friday, March 11th and paints a bleak picture. February saw employment gains of some 15,000 jobs, but these came on the heals of self-employed increasing by 26,000 jobs. This is hardly encouraging because many people pursue self-employment simply because they cannot find jobs – but the income that they generate tends to often be less than what they would expect to make if they were employed. This means that actual employment dropped by 11,000. The number of private sector workers declined. (more…)

Statistics Canada released its latest labour market survey results on Friday, February 4th - and it is good news. 69,000 new jobs were created, and although unemployment edged up, it was simply because more people were looking for work (and presumably feel more optimistic about their chances of finding employment). But overall, the economic climate remains uncertain - so the recovery will likely remain uneven.
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Canada’s economy has been weathering the “great recession” better than most other developed economies, we were told, and the proof was supposedly in the job numbers. Unemployment is still quite high, but until Friday, Statistics Canada was at least reporting that Canada’s economy had already regained all jobs lost in the recession.

But on Friday, January 28th, the story changed. Statistics Canada issued a revision to employment numbers that it had reported previously. It turned out that, after all, the jobs lost in the recession have not been recovered quite yet. (more…)

On balance, the Labour Force Survey results released by Statistics Canada in January 2011 for December - the last month of 2010 – offered good news. Employment increased, the new jobs created were in the private sector, and a relatively high percentage of them were full-time jobs. Hiring demand levels that we (VicinityJobs.com) monitor were relatively high compared to previous months as well – staying at about 10% above last year’s levels.

But December’s report comes on the heels of bleak news from the past couple month. Overall, the job market recovery remains disappointingly slow and unstable, especially given the magnitude of the collapse that we experienced in late 2008: The job market must grow at much faster pace if it is to recoup the momentum it lost in the past couple of years. Yet we are registering hiring demand levels (measured by number of job postings published online) at about one third below their pre-recession level, and the jobs that are being advertised are different from those that were lost. (more…)