Some disheartening news from Stats Canada on Friday from their December 2011 Canadian Labour Force Survey which states that employment rose by 18,000 in December, however the unemployment rate also edged up to 7.5% as more folks were out there actually looking for jobs as well.
Some better news is that employment has grown by 199,000 jobs over the past 12 months (1.2%), but the bad news is that most of that was at the start of 2011 (i.e. things are not getting better right now).
The graphic shows not much change in the past little while in the area of employment. The other unfortunate part is that the growth for last month was due to Part Time increases of 43,000 jobs, however full time dropped by 26,000 jobs, which I think is significant. In December there are a lot of folks taking part time jobs during the Christmas rush to make some extra cash, are these folks leaving those jobs going to be reflected in January?
This graphic is more worrying showing the unemployment rate on an up slope over the past little while.
For those like me who are a little older some nice news:
In December, employment grew by 24,000 among people aged 55 and over. Employment for this age group was up 3.4% (+102,000) compared with 12 months earlier. This increase was almost entirely due to the aging of the population, as the number of people aged 55 and over grew by 3.2% over the period.
My only caveat on that statement is asking, where are these folks working? I see a lot more older folks working at food service and retail jobs these days, and it makes me ask why? Are they supplementing their pensions or maybe they just need this money to live? Those of you younger folks who think I am kidding, wait until you get to my age, you’ll have the same worries!
This time last year things were a little more optimistic with Employment Up a Little More.
The Big Table
Here is one of my favorite Big Tables from the data supplied, check here for this table and check out the other data supplied by Stats Canada.
Table 1 Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted
| Nov 2011 | Dec 2011 | Nov to Dec 2011 | Dec 2010 to Dec 2011 | Nov to Dec 2011 | Dec 2010 to Dec 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 28,107.1 | 28,130.8 | 23.7 | 316.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 |
| Labour force | 18,721.7 | 18,745.3 | 23.6 | 187.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| Employment | 17,327.0 | 17,344.5 | 17.5 | 199.2 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Full-time | 14,069.0 | 14,043.5 | -25.5 | 207.7 | -0.2 | 1.5 |
| Part-time | 3,257.9 | 3,301.0 | 43.1 | -8.6 | 1.3 | -0.3 |
| Unemployment | 1,394.7 | 1,400.8 | 6.1 | -11.7 | 0.4 | -0.8 |
| Participation rate | 66.6 | 66.6 | 0.0 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.4 | 7.5 | 0.1 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.6 | 61.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 18.8 | 19.0 | 0.2 | -0.3 | … | Â … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,457.3 | 4,457.3 | 0.0 | -2.7 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Labour force | 2,867.3 | 2,845.6 | -21.7 | -5.6 | -0.8 | -0.2 |
| Employment | 2,461.7 | 2,444.9 | -16.8 | -11.6 | -0.7 | -0.5 |
| Full-time | 1,306.6 | 1,303.5 | -3.1 | 17.7 | -0.2 | 1.4 |
| Part-time | 1,155.2 | 1,141.4 | -13.8 | -29.3 | -1.2 | -2.5 |
| Unemployment | 405.6 | 400.6 | -5.0 | 5.9 | -1.2 | 1.5 |
| Participation rate | 64.3 | 63.8 | -0.5 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.1 | 14.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 55.2 | 54.9 | -0.3 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 46.9 | 46.7 | -0.2 | -1.0 | … | Â … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,572.0 | 11,583.7 | 11.7 | 159.1 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 8,383.0 | 8,420.6 | 37.6 | 77.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| Employment | 7,850.2 | 7,865.6 | 15.4 | 84.4 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Full-time | 7,256.2 | 7,263.4 | 7.2 | 89.2 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Part-time | 594.0 | 602.2 | 8.2 | -4.8 | 1.4 | -0.8 |
| Unemployment | 532.8 | 554.9 | 22.1 | -7.1 | 4.1 | -1.3 |
| Participation rate | 72.4 | 72.7 | 0.3 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.4 | 6.6 | 0.2 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 67.8 | 67.9 | 0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.6 | 7.7 | 0.1 | -0.1 | … | Â … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,077.8 | 12,089.8 | 12.0 | 159.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Labour force | 7,471.4 | 7,479.2 | 7.8 | 115.8 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| Employment | 7,015.1 | 7,033.9 | 18.8 | 126.3 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
| Full-time | 5,506.3 | 5,476.5 | -29.8 | 100.8 | -0.5 | 1.9 |
| Part-time | 1,508.8 | 1,557.4 | 48.6 | 25.5 | 3.2 | 1.7 |
| Unemployment | 456.3 | 445.3 | -11.0 | -10.5 | -2.4 | -2.3 |
| Participation rate | 61.9 | 61.9 | 0.0 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.1 | 6.0 | -0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.1 | 58.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.5 | 22.1 | 0.6 | -0.1 | … | Â … |
