Unemployment Up a Bit for April
Employment Up
Marginally good news in that the Unemployment rate didn’t increase by much in April 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
April Unemployment Graph
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 | … | … |
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:27 PM
[...] Cajun Man looks into the Canadian unemployment rate. The gravity of so many job losses is saddening when you think of all the people and families [...]
[Translate]