Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for the ‘Unemployment’ Category

Stats Canada announced some improving numbers for February in the world of Employment, which bodes well for the economy, but also points towards a recovery, which will cause the government to maybe get out of the way, by lowering their intervention, but also have them stop making money so easy to get (i.e. upward pressures on interest rates). This seems to be the opinion from a few folks about these numbers.

Underlying February’s employment change was a notable gain in full-time work (+60,000), which was partially offset by a decline in part time (-39,000). Since the summer of 2009, employment growth has been all in full time.

On Going Employment Graph

Employment Better for Over 55

An interesting figure is that employment for folks over the age of 55 was one of the biggest growth areas in February. This means lots of older folks, who maybe should be thinking about retirement are actually going out and getting jobs?

Employment for men and women aged 55 and over has been trending up for a number of years, the result of employment growth combined with more people moving into that age group.

Yes we are all getting older, but why are we looking for jobs? Guess we need to save a little more for our retirement?

Unemployment Down Too

This month the unemployment numbers trended down, which is good as well.

Big Picture Graph for Unemployment

The Big Table

And here is the big table to ogle for more information:

Friday, Stats Canada published their monthly update on the Labor Force Survey for January and the numbers were a little better than the prognosticators were guessing, as employment increased by 43,000 jobs last month (the number bandied about I had heard was 15,000), which actually pushed the unemployment rate down 1/10% as well.

This is relatively good news, given the gloom and doom from the stock markets and the commodities world of the past few days (at the end of last week).

Employment gains in January were driven by women aged 25 to 54 and youths. This was the first notable increase for youths since the start of the employment downturn in the fall of 2008.

So more part time jobs, but at least work is out there, for the youths.

Employment Curve up to January 2010

Unemployment dropped a little, which should make folks happier, but it is still well over 8% which is a number that does not reflect a healthy thriving economy.

Unemployment Graph up to January 2010

Much of the gains were seen in Ontario (30,000), but Ontario’s unemployment rate stayed at 9.2% as more folks were also looking for jobs, which means unemployment is actually on an upward trend since the summer.

The Big Table

Here is the Big table from Stats Can, find your age group and see what happened to folks of your age and gender.

Nothing New on Jobs Front

Stats Canada published their Labor Force survery for December 2009 on Friday, and it seemed to suggest not much changed in December after a surge in November. This is to be expected with most firms slowing down for the holidays, so the data really only reflect a 2/3 of a month snapshot (if someone got hired between Christmas and New Years I would be very surprised (but it would be a nice present too)).

In the last nine months, employment has stabilized but remains 323,000 (-1.9%) below the October 2008 peak.

Very interesting statement, but given we are only “recovering” not attempting to get back to record highs, it is a slow and steady slope.

At least the graph does not show a slope down.

Unemployment Flat Too

The good thing is that this month’s data also shows that unemployment is stable as well, although seeing it drop would be another good sign of the “recovery” gaining momentum.

Following a large increase in November, employment was unchanged in December and the unemployment rate remained at 8.5%.

Another Big Table

This is the big table of Labour Force Characteristics by Age and Sex

For my regular readers, I am so lazy swamped over the holidays that I am taking some time off and putting up a “Best of” anthology until the New Year (January 4th to be exact). Enjoy two Best of posts a day over the Holidays and have yourself a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

For me the year 2009 was a roller coaster of ups and downs both financially and in my life. As some of you know I worked at Nortel for 20+ years and got laid off at the end of 2008, but I was lucky enough to find a job this year, and I have no complaints about 2009, other than the normal rants my regular readers have seen.

I have picked out three posts that sort of sum up Nortel and me in the past year. I don’t bare any ill will to the folks I worked with at Nortel, they were great, but I still have a festering loathing for the upper management team(s) and some in specific on how this all “went down”. My guess is that Karma, or God or whatever force that makes things equal in this world will get them eventually.

Interesting that I never really had a specific post stating I was back at work, I simply slid it into a Random Thoughts posting.

A Questionnaire for Everything (2009/01/06)

In August as part of the entire severance process that I lived through with my now former employer a few odd things happened and this incident really was the most odd…..

To read complete post click here

Sometimes It’s Better to Be Lucky (2009/01/15)

With Nortel’s bankruptcy protection announcement yesterday there is a sickening scenario for some very unlucky folks (many I know personally). Today’s title comes from one of my favorite expressions, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than talented”, and that is how I feel right now….

To read complete post click here

A Year Ago (2009/07/30)

This is the one year anniversary of my lay off notice from Nortel. A lot has happened in the past year (unfortunately not a job offer for me, but I am still optimistic), that have me thinking that for something bad, it may end up being a good thing…..

To read complete post click here

Random Thoughts: Back to Work Edition (2009/08/07)

For my regular readers you will know I have been on the hunt for a new job for over a year now, but I am pleased to say that I will be embarking on a new career as of Monday, which is a great relief to me (and to my wife who will gladly have the house back in a regular working order soon enough)……

To read complete post click here

Stats Canada put out their numbers for November on Friday and they were much rosier than expected and better than our friends down south as well.

Employment rose by 79,000 in November, bringing the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage points to 8.5%. Despite November’s gain, employment was 321,000 (-1.9%) below the peak of October 2008.

Hey let’s not get over the top here, more people employed is a good thing!

November Numbers Better

The numbers are quite interesting to browse (if you click on the graph you’ll go to the Stats Can original info), but the one thing I liked seeing was:

Most of the gain in overall employment in November was among women aged 25 to 54 (+51,000) and men aged 55 and over (+17,000).

Hooray for us old guys!!! You young ladies keep plunking away too!

Unemployment Down

This month the number crunchers got the unemployment numbers to go down (which is not always the case even when employment numbers are UP).

November Unemployment Down

Down only 0.1 percent, but it’s a good thing considering our friends to the south are celebrating their increase is not quite as big!

A Big Table

Here we are by sector, an interesting hunk of info. The area to look at is Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, which means the financial sector is rebounding nicely… is that a good thing is the question?