Our friends at Stats Canada had some less than good news on Friday about the latest set of Labour Numbers for October 2011: we are losing jobs again, and worse still, the loss is in the area of Full-Time Jobs (over 70,000 lost there), which may put a dent in any Canadian Recovery hopes for the next little while.
Following an increase in September, employment declined by 54,000 in October, all in full time. October’s loss pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 7.3%. Over the last year, total employment has risen by 237,000 (+1.4%).
Even with this precipitous drop, employment numbers are still better than they were a year ago at this time, which is better news.
As we can see a bit of a drop off last month, but still better than a while ago. With the employment drop, unemployment numbers increased this month as well (unlike some other months where that might not be the case).
Job losses are in service industries and construction, but the other interesting point is that the biggest age-group drop is among women over 25, which isn’t good either.
The Big Table
To go into a lot more detail, here is one of the many cool detailed tables published by Stats Canada, have a look at all of them, they are very informative.
Labour force characteristics by age and sex, seasonally adjusted
| Sept 2011 | Oct 2011 | Sept to Oct 2011 | Oct 2010 to Oct 2011 | Sept to Oct 2011 | Oct 2010 to Oct 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 28,057.1 | 28,082.3 | 25.2 | 317.1 | 0.1 | 1.1 |
| Labour force | 18,733.7 | 18,719.9 | -13.8 | 156.0 | -0.1 | 0.8 |
| Employment | 17,399.6 | 17,345.6 | -54.0 | 236.9 | -0.3 | 1.4 |
| Full-time | 14,106.1 | 14,034.4 | -71.7 | 226.4 | -0.5 | 1.6 |
| Part-time | 3,293.5 | 3,311.2 | 17.7 | 10.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Unemployment | 1,334.2 | 1,374.2 | 40.0 | -81.0 | 3.0 | -5.6 |
| Participation rate | 66.8 | 66.7 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.1 | 7.3 | 0.2 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 62.0 | 61.8 | -0.2 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 18.9 | 19.1 | 0.2 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,457.2 | 4,457.4 | 0.2 | -3.4 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Labour force | 2,901.6 | 2,887.5 | -14.1 | 38.4 | -0.5 | 1.3 |
| Employment | 2,494.1 | 2,479.5 | -14.6 | 46.2 | -0.6 | 1.9 |
| Full-time | 1,292.2 | 1,298.0 | 5.8 | 29.4 | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Part-time | 1,201.9 | 1,181.5 | -20.4 | 16.8 | -1.7 | 1.4 |
| Unemployment | 407.5 | 408.0 | 0.5 | -7.8 | 0.1 | -1.9 |
| Participation rate | 65.1 | 64.8 | -0.3 | 0.9 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.0 | 14.1 | 0.1 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 56.0 | 55.6 | -0.4 | 1.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 48.2 | 47.7 | -0.5 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,546.9 | 11,559.6 | 12.7 | 160.2 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 8,391.5 | 8,398.6 | 7.1 | 66.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Employment | 7,879.5 | 7,872.2 | -7.3 | 105.8 | -0.1 | 1.4 |
| Full-time | 7,282.3 | 7,248.3 | -34.0 | 91.8 | -0.5 | 1.3 |
| Part-time | 597.2 | 623.9 | 26.7 | 14.0 | 4.5 | 2.3 |
| Unemployment | 512.0 | 526.5 | 14.5 | -39.5 | 2.8 | -7.0 |
| Participation rate | 72.7 | 72.7 | 0.0 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.1 | 6.3 | 0.2 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.2 | 68.1 | -0.1 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.6 | 7.9 | 0.3 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,052.9 | 12,065.4 | 12.5 | 160.4 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Labour force | 7,440.6 | 7,433.7 | -6.9 | 51.3 | -0.1 | 0.7 |
| Employment | 7,025.9 | 6,994.0 | -31.9 | 84.9 | -0.5 | 1.2 |
| Full-time | 5,531.5 | 5,488.1 | -43.4 | 105.2 | -0.8 | 2.0 |
| Part-time | 1,494.4 | 1,505.9 | 11.5 | -20.3 | 0.8 | -1.3 |
| Unemployment | 414.7 | 439.7 | 25.0 | -33.7 | 6.0 | -7.1 |
| Participation rate | 61.7 | 61.6 | -0.1 | -0.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.6 | 5.9 | 0.3 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.3 | 58.0 | -0.3 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.3 | 21.5 | 0.2 | -0.6 | … | … |
Unemployment for 2011 Articles
- Unemployment Up to End 2011. In December, employment grew by 24,000 among people aged 55 and over. Employment for this age group rose 3.4% (+102,000) from 12 months earlier. This increase was almost entirely due to population aging, as the 55-and-over population grew by 3.2% over the period.
- Unemployment up in November 2011 in Canada. In November, employment fell in retail and wholesale trade, as well as business, building and other support services. These losses were partially offset by increases in “other services” (such as personal services and repair and maintenance), as well as in construction, natural resources, and utilities.
- Labour Numbers not good for October 2011 in Canada. After a September increase, employment fell by 54,000 in October, all full-time. October’s loss pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 7.3%. Over the last year, total employment has risen by 237,000 (+1.4%).
- Optimistic Labour Numbers September 2011. Following two months of little change, employment rose by 61,000 in September, all in full time. This increase pushed the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.1%, the lowest rate since December 2008.
