Employment Stalls a little for July in Canada (2011)

So the Labour Survey for July 2011 was published by our friends at Stats Canada on Friday, and while the numbers show not too much growth in employment, it does show a drop in unemployment which is a very good thing (given how bad things look like they are going to go in the coming weeks).

Following three consecutive months of increases, employment was little changed in July. The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage points to 7.2%, as fewer people participated in the labour market.

So not as good news as you want to see (with less folks trying to get jobs), but maybe they were deciding to stay home with their families? Who knows?

A flattening of the curve is OK, as long as the jobs stay around, given the fun and excitement down south.

In July, employment increased in construction, transportation and warehousing as well as retail and wholesale trade. At the same time, there were decreases in health care and social assistance; educational services; business, building and other support services; natural resources as well as agriculture.

An increase in the number of private sector employees was offset by a decline in the public sector.

As usual, I am glad to see more Private Sector jobs, because cost cutting at most level of governments is going to mean a tight squeeze in the Public Sector (certainly that is the word here in Ottawa).

The graphic seems to imply better unemployment, but if it is simply less folks looking, then the looks of the graph can be deceiving.

Big Table

As usual I include the Big Table to show where employment numbers changed in terms of age groups. More are available at the Stats Canada Web site too.

Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted