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.
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.
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.
| Dec 2009 | Jan 2010 | Dec 2009 to Janu 2010 | Jan 2009 to Jan 2010 | Dec 2009 to Jan 2010 | Jan 2009 to Jan 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| thousands | change in thousands | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 27,490.7 | 27,522.2 | 31.5 | 394.1 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Labour force | 18,437.2 | 18,456.1 | 18.9 | 173.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| Employment | 16,881.4 | 16,924.4 | 43.0 | -16.0 | 0.3 | -0.1 |
| Full-time | 13,677.2 | 13,678.6 | 1.4 | -71.9 | 0.0 | -0.5 |
| Part-time | 3,204.3 | 3,245.8 | 41.5 | 55.9 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Unemployment | 1,555.8 | 1,531.7 | -24.1 | 189.2 | -1.5 | 14.1 |
| Participation rate | 67.1 | 67.1 | 0.0 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 8.4 | 8.3 | -0.1 | 1.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.4 | 61.5 | 0.1 | -0.9 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 19.0 | 19.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,400.3 | 4,401.2 | 0.9 | 15.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Labour force | 2,847.8 | 2,850.7 | 2.9 | -41.0 | 0.1 | -1.4 |
| Employment | 2,392.0 | 2,421.3 | 29.3 | -90.4 | 1.2 | -3.6 |
| Full-time | 1,272.3 | 1,275.9 | 3.6 | -83.8 | 0.3 | -6.2 |
| Part-time | 1,119.6 | 1,145.4 | 25.8 | -6.6 | 2.3 | -0.6 |
| Unemployment | 455.9 | 429.4 | -26.5 | 49.4 | -5.8 | 13.0 |
| Participation rate | 64.7 | 64.8 | 0.1 | -1.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 16.0 | 15.1 | -0.9 | 2.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 54.4 | 55.0 | 0.6 | -2.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 46.8 | 47.3 | 0.5 | 1.4 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,293.8 | 11,309.1 | 15.3 | 192.5 | 0.1 | 1.7 |
| Labour force | 8,268.0 | 8,242.1 | -25.9 | 74.5 | -0.3 | 0.9 |
| Employment | 7,609.6 | 7,592.3 | -17.3 | -13.0 | -0.2 | -0.2 |
| Full-time | 7,010.4 | 7,004.3 | -6.1 | -48.8 | -0.1 | -0.7 |
| Part-time | 599.2 | 588.0 | -11.2 | 35.8 | -1.9 | 6.5 |
| Unemployment | 658.3 | 649.8 | -8.5 | 87.5 | -1.3 | 15.6 |
| Participation rate | 73.2 | 72.9 | -0.3 | -0.6 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 8.0 | 7.9 | -0.1 | 1.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 67.4 | 67.1 | -0.3 | -1.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.9 | 7.7 | -0.2 | 0.4 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,796.6 | 11,811.9 | 15.3 | 186.2 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| Labour force | 7,321.4 | 7,363.3 | 41.9 | 139.8 | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| Employment | 6,879.8 | 6,910.8 | 31.0 | 87.5 | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Full-time | 5,394.4 | 5,398.5 | 4.1 | 60.8 | 0.1 | 1.1 |
| Part-time | 1,485.4 | 1,512.4 | 27.0 | 26.7 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Unemployment | 441.6 | 452.5 | 10.9 | 52.3 | 2.5 | 13.1 |
| Participation rate | 62.1 | 62.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.0 | 6.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.3 | 58.5 | 0.2 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.6 | 21.9 | 0.3 | 0.1 | … | … |
