Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Canada continues to add jobs, but also seems to be adding more folks looking for jobs as well in April according to Stats Canada. Another month where Canada has added more jobs (Full-time jobs, which is great), however, thanks to more folks out there looking unemployment is up as well.

Employment increased by 58,000 in April, mostly in full-time work. This was the second consecutive month of notable gains after four months of little change. With more people searching for work, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 7.3%.

Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up 1.2% or 214,000. All of the growth over the 12 months was in full-time work, up 217,000 (+1.6%), while part-time employment was unchanged. The total number of hours worked rose 1.5% over the same period.

These are very promising good news information for Canadians (for those who claim I am a doom and gloom kind of guy).

Employment As of April 2011

This graph makes me happier, let us hope that the good numbers continue for the Economy.

Here is the confusing group, that shows that unemployment is going up, even with more folks being employed:

Unemployment for the past little while in Canada

Kind of slowly rolling down, but kind of worrying none the less.

An interesting comparison with our friends down south was also brought forward:

The number of employed as a percentage of the working-age population in Canada, that is the employment rate—when adjusted to U.S. concepts—was markedly lower than that of the United States from the early 1990s until 2002. Since 2002, the adjusted employment rate in Canada has been higher, with the gap between the two countries widening since late 2006.

Better employment numbers in Canada? Good thing to hear.

The Big Table

Stats Canada also has lots more data with their monthly numbers and I like to include at least one of their tables:

Table 1 Labour force characteristics by age and sex - Seasonally adjusted

Yes, I know the Easter bunny would help the April employment numbers, but the headline is still great.

Employment is up and Unemployment is down for March 2012 in Canada (according to Stats Canada), which is very good news:

Following four months of little change, employment increased by 82,000 in March, mostly in full-time work. This brought the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.2%.

Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up 1.1% or 197,000. Almost all of this growth was in full-time employment, up 181,000 (+1.3%), while part-time employment edged up. The total number of hours worked rose 1.6% over the same period.

The fact that it is Full Time employment is the most important news that I can read in that paragraph. The numbers of hours worked going up is good too.

Employment for Past Little While

Employment gains in March were spread across several industries, including health care and social assistance; information, culture and recreation; and public administration. There was a decline in educational services.

Interesting cross-section of jobs that were created, and all of this is good news for Canadians, but now we must wait to see that the ramifications are from Government cuts at the Provincial and also at the Federal level.

Unemployment for Past little While in Canada

A much more optimistic looking graph for Canadians.

The Big Table

As usual I include one of the Big Tables from our friends at Stats Canada, and some interesting numbers appear in the table.

Labour force characteristics by age and sex - Seasonally adjusted

The alleged drop in the Unemployment rate is mostly from folks who gave up looking for jobs, so don’t start thinking the economy is turning around (just yet).

Employment was unchanged in February. A decline in the number of people searching for work pushed the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.4%. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up by 121,000 (+0.7%), with the bulk of the increase occurring in the first half of the period.

So that is a little depressing to hear, fewer people looking for a job is reason to lower numbers? That is very worrisome.

Employment over the last little while

So where did these changes mostly happen?

Employment for the month declined in retail and wholesale trade; transportation and warehousing; health care and social assistance; and public administration. These declines were offset by increases in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing; educational services; and business, building and other support services.

How in an aging population can a drop in Health Care employment? These are very interesting times.

Unemployment for past little while

Note the graphic does not have an arrow pointing out that folks stopped looking for jobs to make that “drop” happen.

The Big Table

Stats Canada puts out some great data as well as this report, and I love the tables as well, so go over and check them out as well:

Labour force characteristics by age and sex - Seasonally adjusted

Evidently the pundits were expecting better numbers, but employment numbers stayed virtually the same in January (compared to December) and thanks to the accounting method, unemployment actually jumped in January.

Both full-time and part-time employment were essentially unchanged in January. Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of full-time workers was up 1.2% (+170,000), while the number of part-time workers declined 1.2% (-41,000). At the same time, the total number of hours worked grew 1.4%, with all of the increase in the first half of the period.

OK, not great news, but at least it isn’t really bad news it is just not good news either.

Employment Numbers Past Little While

The number of employees went up, as much as the number of self-employed dropped (by 37,000) which is worrisome.

It looks like folks are looking for more mature folks on the job with the following quote:

Employment increased by 19,000 in January among women aged 55 and over. Employment for this age group grew 3.5% (+49,000) compared with 12 months earlier, in large part a result of the aging of the population.

Men aged 55 and over saw little employment change in January. Their 12-month employment growth rate of 3.1% (+52,000) was entirely the result of the aging population.

Guess grey hair may be in this year?

Unemployment for past little while

The Big Table

My regular readers know I am a big fan of looking at all the info that the Stats Canada folks provide, and this table is a good one to check out:

Labour force characteristics by age and sex - Seasonally adjusted

Year over year 2012′s Consumer Price Index ended at 2.3% according to our friends at Stats Canada. The drop from last month’s 2.9% is being attributed to gas prices moderating (i.e. not increasing as fast, and in some instances almost dropping a smidge), and car prices dropping a little.

This is not to say that Gas prices are really dropping, but that the increase compared to last year at this time doesn’t seem quite as bad. The actual rise of gas prices year over year was about 7.6% as compared to last month where the year over year where gas was effectively up 13.5%, so it looks like the gas price increase is declining (but not the price really).

Other words from Stat Canada:

Consumers paid 4.4% more for food in the 12 months to December, following a 4.8% increase the month before. The year-over-year change for food purchased from stores eased in December to a 5.0% gain from 5.7% in November.

Bouncy, bouncy graph

Even though the CPI is moderating the bad news is that prices are up in every major category on the Index. Everything ends up costing more year over year, is never a good thing to read.

Since 2002, you can see how inflation has chewed away the actual value of a Canadian Dollar, and this period has been low, what happens if inflation suddenly heats up?

Bank of Canada’ Core Index

What the Bank of Canada thinks the inflation rate runs at is even more important, because they are the only one who has a brake for the economy (i.e. Money supply rules and Interest Rates), and luckily they think it is actually a little lower than their target which is around 2.0%, using their index. This means interest rates won’t jump due to inflation for this month.

The Bank of Canada’s core index rose 1.9% in the 12 months to December, after increasing 2.1% in November. Increases were recorded for food purchased from restaurants and passenger vehicle insurance premiums, while prices for the purchase of passenger vehicles declined.

The seasonally adjusted monthly core index posted no change in December.

The BIG Table

Where were the biggest jumps in the CPI? Always check out the Stats Canada web pages for more details, but I always love publishing one of their BIG tables too.

Table 1 Consumer Price Index and major components, Canada - Not seasonally adjusted