Stats Canada Data about Employment and Unemployment for May 2009.
Friday Stats Canada did their Labour Survey for May 2009 and the numbers continue to be not encouraging.
Following gains in April, employment decreased by 42,000 in May, led by further manufacturing losses in Ontario. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 8.4%, the highest rate in 11 years. Since the employment peak of last October, employment has fallen by 363,000 or 2.1%.
Ontario seems to be taking the brunt of this economic downturn, which is not surprising really, as the manufacturing heartland would be where this might hurt the most, but with the Canadian Dollar strengthening there may be another “wammy” coming for Ontario.
In May 2009, there were 778,000 factory workers in Ontario, the lowest level since comparable data became available in 1976. Manufacturing employment in Ontario reached a peak in November 2002 with 1,115,000 workers.
Not encouraging for the manufacturing sector, but with the Auto sector being included in this group, not very surprsing either.
Old Folks Getting Hit Hard
For old farts like me, there were less encouraging numbers as well.
Employment fell by 50,000 in May for persons aged 25 to 54, with losses of 28,000 among men and 22,000 among women. Since the start of the labour market downturn, however, it is men in this age group who have experienced most of the losses, down 3.4%, while employment among core-age women has fallen by 1.1% over the same period.
Doesn’t anyone want old cunning folk over young exuberant folk?
| April 2009 | May 2009 | April to May 2009 | May 2008 to May 2009 | April to May 2009 | May 2008 to May 2009 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| thousands | change in thousands | % change | ||||
| Both sexes 15+ | ||||||
| Population | 27,217.6 | 27,250.0 | 32.4 | 379.4 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 18,338.6 | 18,380.6 | 42.0 | 133.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Employment | 16,874.0 | 16,832.2 | -41.8 | -299.4 | -0.2 | -1.7 |
| Full-time | 13,656.8 | 13,598.1 | -58.7 | -376.5 | -0.4 | -2.7 |
| Part-time | 3,217.1 | 3,234.1 | 17.0 | 77.1 | 0.5 | 2.4 |
| Unemployment | 1,464.6 | 1,548.4 | 83.8 | 433.0 | 5.7 | 38.8 |
| Participation rate | 67.4 | 67.5 | 0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 8.0 | 8.4 | 0.4 | 2.3 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 62.0 | 61.8 | -0.2 | -2.0 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 19.1 | 19.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | … | … |
| Youths 15 to 24 | ||||||
| Population | 4,390.1 | 4,392.2 | 2.1 | 19.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Labour force | 2,888.9 | 2,899.4 | 10.5 | -54.3 | 0.4 | -1.8 |
| Employment | 2,479.0 | 2,466.7 | -12.3 | -139.7 | -0.5 | -5.4 |
| Full-time | 1,335.2 | 1,302.0 | -33.2 | -141.8 | -2.5 | -9.8 |
| Part-time | 1,143.9 | 1,164.7 | 20.8 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 0.2 |
| Unemployment | 409.8 | 432.8 | 23.0 | 85.5 | 5.6 | 24.6 |
| Participation rate | 65.8 | 66.0 | 0.2 | -1.5 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.2 | 14.9 | 0.7 | 3.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 56.5 | 56.2 | -0.3 | -3.4 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 46.1 | 47.2 | 1.1 | 2.6 | … | … |
| Men 25+ | ||||||
| Population | 11,159.8 | 11,174.9 | 15.1 | 181.4 | 0.1 | 1.7 |
| Labour force | 8,184.9 | 8,215.8 | 30.9 | 92.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Employment | 7,560.6 | 7,536.9 | -23.7 | -168.3 | -0.3 | -2.2 |
| Full-time | 6,980.7 | 6,949.2 | -31.5 | -231.3 | -0.5 | -3.2 |
| Part-time | 579.9 | 587.7 | 7.8 | 63.0 | 1.3 | 12.0 |
| Unemployment | 624.3 | 678.8 | 54.5 | 260.7 | 8.7 | 62.4 |
| Participation rate | 73.3 | 73.5 | 0.2 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.6 | 8.3 | 0.7 | 3.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 67.7 | 67.4 | -0.3 | -2.7 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.7 | 7.8 | 0.1 | 1.0 | … | … |
| Women 25+ | ||||||
| Population | 11,667.7 | 11,682.9 | 15.2 | 178.7 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| Labour force | 7,264.9 | 7,265.4 | 0.5 | 95.4 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Employment | 6,834.4 | 6,828.6 | -5.8 | 8.6 | -0.1 | 0.1 |
| Full-time | 5,341.0 | 5,346.9 | 5.9 | -3.3 | 0.1 | -0.1 |
| Part-time | 1,493.4 | 1,481.7 | -11.7 | 11.9 | -0.8 | 0.8 |
| Unemployment | 430.4 | 436.8 | 6.4 | 86.9 | 1.5 | 24.8 |
| Participation rate | 62.3 | 62.2 | -0.1 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.9 | 6.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.6 | 58.4 | -0.2 | -0.9 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.9 | 21.7 | -0.2 | 0.1 | … | … |
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
- Employment down (again) Unemployment Up (again) for May 2009
- 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.
