From April 2009 things were slowly starting to recover.
Employment Up
Marginally good news in that the Unemployment rate didn’t increase by much in April 2009 and in fact the number of employed folk increased by 36,000 according to Stats Canada.
This increase is mostly due to a lot more folks being self-employed, but still a positive thing to see unemployment stop it’s sharp increases of the past few months, and to hear there are more employed folk is a positive note. Are we seeing a light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe not just yet, but a glimmer of hope maybe, is a good thing.
Employment grew by 36,000 in April, the result of an increase in self-employment. Despite this increase, overall employment has fallen by 321,000 since the peak in October 2008. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.0% in April, remaining at its highest level in seven years, with the growth in employment coinciding with an increase in the labour force.
The huge drop of 321,000 I see, when I go to job interviews and see many of the folks I used to work with, at the same interviews, it’s actually quite scary.
Unemployment Steady
Always nice to see a flattened graph in this situation. There is a rate increase from 8.3% to 8.4% but much better than the huge jumps of the past few months too.
By Province Numbers
Labour force characteristics by province
| March 2009 | April 2009 | March to April 2009 | April 2008 to April 2009 | March to April 2009 | April 2008 to April 2009 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| thousands | change in thousands | % change | ||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | ||||||
| Population | 428.0 | 428.1 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| Labour force | 254.3 | 251.0 | -3.3 | -5.9 | -1.3 | -2.3 |
| Employment | 217.0 | 214.2 | -2.8 | -8.8 | -1.3 | -3.9 |
| Full-time | 185.2 | 184.2 | -1.0 | -4.5 | -0.5 | -2.4 |
| Part-time | 31.8 | 30.0 | -1.8 | -4.3 | -5.7 | -12.5 |
| Unemployment | 37.3 | 36.8 | -0.5 | 3.0 | -1.3 | 8.9 |
| Participation rate | 59.4 | 58.6 | -0.8 | -1.8 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.7 | 14.7 | 0.0 | 1.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 50.7 | 50.0 | -0.7 | -2.4 | … | … |
| Prince Edward Island | ||||||
| Population | 115.4 | 115.5 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Labour force | 77.6 | 78.2 | 0.6 | -1.1 | 0.8 | -1.4 |
| Employment | 68.7 | 68.6 | -0.1 | -1.9 | -0.1 | -2.7 |
| Full-time | 58.4 | 57.7 | -0.7 | -1.9 | -1.2 | -3.2 |
| Part-time | 10.3 | 10.8 | 0.5 | -0.1 | 4.9 | -0.9 |
| Unemployment | 8.9 | 9.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| Participation rate | 67.2 | 67.7 | 0.5 | -1.9 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 11.5 | 12.4 | 0.9 | 1.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 59.5 | 59.4 | -0.1 | -2.4 | … | … |
| Nova Scotia | ||||||
| Population | 771.6 | 771.9 | 0.3 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Labour force | 497.7 | 495.0 | -2.7 | 5.1 | -0.5 | 1.0 |
| Employment | 453.4 | 449.3 | -4.1 | -3.0 | -0.9 | -0.7 |
| Full-time | 370.4 | 367.5 | -2.9 | -2.3 | -0.8 | -0.6 |
| Part-time | 82.9 | 81.8 | -1.1 | -0.6 | -1.3 | -0.7 |
| Unemployment | 44.3 | 45.7 | 1.4 | 8.0 | 3.2 | 21.2 |
| Participation rate | 64.5 | 64.1 | -0.4 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 8.9 | 9.2 | 0.3 | 1.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.8 | 58.2 | -0.6 | -0.7 | … | … |
| New Brunswick | ||||||
| Population | 620.5 | 620.9 | 0.4 | 3.9 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Labour force | 403.1 | 399.9 | -3.2 | 0.0 | -0.8 | 0.0 |
| Employment | 364.7 | 364.3 | -0.4 | -1.9 | -0.1 | -0.5 |
| Full-time | 306.0 | 306.5 | 0.5 | -1.7 | 0.2 | -0.6 |
| Part-time | 58.7 | 57.8 | -0.9 | -0.2 | -1.5 | -0.3 |
| Unemployment | 38.4 | 35.6 | -2.8 | 1.9 | -7.3 | 5.6 |
| Participation rate | 65.0 | 64.4 | -0.6 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 9.5 | 8.9 | -0.6 | 0.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.8 | 58.7 | -0.1 | -0.7 | … | … |
| Quebec | ||||||
| Population | 6,416.1 | 6,421.1 | 5.0 | 62.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| Labour force | 4,181.7 | 4,210.8 | 29.1 | 29.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Employment | 3,835.5 | 3,857.9 | 22.4 | -9.8 | 0.6 | -0.3 |
| Full-time | 3,110.2 | 3,131.1 | 20.9 | -22.4 | 0.7 | -0.7 |
| Part-time | 725.2 | 726.8 | 1.6 | 12.5 | 0.2 | 1.7 |
| Unemployment | 346.3 | 352.9 | 6.6 | 39.3 | 1.9 | 12.5 |
| Participation rate | 65.2 | 65.6 | 0.4 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 8.3 | 8.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 59.8 | 60.1 | 0.3 | -0.7 | … | … |
Previous Months Unemployment for 2009
- Unemployment Up Sharply to 7.2% in January 2009 the impact of the great meltdown was starting to settle in.
- Bad Unemployment and No Pensions for February 2009 things were very not good back then.
- Unemployment Up Again to 8.0% March 2009 not too surprising really. March was still deep in the heart of the meltdown.
- Unemployment Up a Bit for April 2009 so these are the actual Unemployed count from Stats Canada
- More Folks on EI in April 2009 – a sad time still
- Unemployment Numbers up a Little – The numbers for June 2009
- For July 2009 Unemployment Rate Hovers – is this a plateau? Hard to tell.
- Better Employment Numbers September 2009 – shows that life started to get better as 2009 went on. We hoped.
- Less Employed in October 2009 8.6% Unemployed – OK so our hopes were dashed for a while.
- November 2009 Employment Numbers: A Festivus Miracle! a month early for Festivus, but good news, is good news.
- Nothing New on Jobs Front for December 2009 the year did not end with a bang unfortunately.
