According to our friends at Statistics Canada 2012 ended with a rosier employment picture:
Employment rose by 40,000 in December, the fourth increase in five months. December’s increase was all in full-time work. The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 7.1%, the lowest in four years.
That makes the year-end on a bit of a high note (IMHO). A happy looking graphic from them as well showing employment gains:
That is a happier looking graphic than what we saw a few years back, so Canadians are starting to get back to work in general, however there are still issues with youth employment that need to be addressed (it seems old farts like me can still more easily find jobs than younger folks).
In December, employment increased among core-aged men 25 to 54. Over the year, employment gains were shared among core-aged workers and those 55 and over, while employment among youths was unchanged.
The unemployment graph looks good with unemployment dropping by 0.1% in December too:
The Big Table
For my regular readers, you know my love for the more specific details on some of the tables supplied by Stats Canada, here is the stats by age group:
Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted
| November 2012 | December 2012 | Nov to Dec 2012 | Dec 2011 to Dec 2012 | Nov to Dec 2012 | Dec 2011 to Dec 2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 28,442.9 | 28,468.6 | 25.7 | 337.8 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Labour force | 18,996.5 | 19,023.8 | 27.3 | 269.3 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Employment | 17,626.8 | 17,666.6 | 39.8 | 311.9 | 0.2 | 1.8 |
| Full-time | 14,318.0 | 14,359.2 | 41.2 | 306.7 | 0.3 | 2.2 |
| Part-time | 3,308.8 | 3,307.4 | -1.4 | 5.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Unemployment | 1,369.7 | 1,357.2 | -12.5 | -42.6 | -0.9 | -3.0 |
| Participation rate | 66.8 | 66.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.2 | 7.1 | -0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 62.0 | 62.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 18.8 | 18.7 | -0.1 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,456.5 | 4,456.1 | -0.4 | -1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Labour force | 2,833.2 | 2,835.9 | 2.7 | -9.7 | 0.1 | -0.3 |
| Employment | 2,435.2 | 2,435.1 | -0.1 | -9.8 | 0.0 | -0.4 |
| Full-time | 1,277.9 | 1,276.1 | -1.8 | -26.9 | -0.1 | -2.1 |
| Part-time | 1,157.3 | 1,159.0 | 1.7 | 17.1 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Unemployment | 397.9 | 400.8 | 2.9 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| Participation rate | 63.6 | 63.6 | 0.0 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.0 | 14.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 54.6 | 54.6 | 0.0 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 47.5 | 47.6 | 0.1 | 0.9 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,740.6 | 11,753.6 | 13.0 | 169.9 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Labour force | 8,555.6 | 8,565.6 | 10.0 | 136.3 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| Employment | 8,011.9 | 8,050.4 | 38.5 | 174.9 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Full-time | 7,400.6 | 7,444.0 | 43.4 | 171.9 | 0.6 | 2.4 |
| Part-time | 611.3 | 606.4 | -4.9 | 3.0 | -0.8 | 0.5 |
| Unemployment | 543.7 | 515.3 | -28.4 | -38.5 | -5.2 | -7.0 |
| Participation rate | 72.9 | 72.9 | 0.0 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.4 | 6.0 | -0.4 | -0.6 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.2 | 68.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.6 | 7.5 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,245.8 | 12,258.9 | 13.1 | 169.1 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 7,607.7 | 7,622.3 | 14.6 | 142.7 | 0.2 | 1.9 |
| Employment | 7,179.7 | 7,181.1 | 1.4 | 146.8 | 0.0 | 2.1 |
| Full-time | 5,639.6 | 5,639.2 | -0.4 | 161.8 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Part-time | 1,540.2 | 1,542.0 | 1.8 | -14.9 | 0.1 | -1.0 |
| Unemployment | 428.0 | 441.1 | 13.1 | -4.3 | 3.1 | -1.0 |
| Participation rate | 62.1 | 62.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.6 | 5.8 | 0.2 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.6 | 58.6 | 0.0 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.5 | 21.5 | 0.0 | -0.6 | … | … |
I hate saying it but aren’t there always more jobs in December as the Christmas craze is on and people are getting jobs that last through until the first week of January and then are laid off? January and February are usually much higher in job losses aren’t they?
If there was a 0.5% job spike I would be impressed, but 0.1 is still barely a skip on the heartbeat of the country. I will take it but to me it is still way too little.