More Working and Higher Unemployment in April (2012)

Canada continues to add jobs, but also seems to be adding more folks looking for jobs as well in April according to Stats Canada. Another month where Canada has added more jobs (Full-time jobs, which is great), however, thanks to more folks out there looking unemployment is up as well.

Employment increased by 58,000 in April, mostly in full-time work. This was the second consecutive month of notable gains after four months of little change. With more people searching for work, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 7.3%.

Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up 1.2% or 214,000. All of the growth over the 12 months was in full-time work, up 217,000 (+1.6%), while part-time employment was unchanged. The total number of hours worked rose 1.5% over the same period.

These are very promising good news information for Canadians (for those who claim I am a doom and gloom kind of guy).

This graph makes me happier, let us hope that the good numbers continue for the Economy.

Here is the confusing group, that shows that unemployment is going up, even with more folks being employed:

Kind of slowly rolling down, but kind of worrying none the less.

An interesting comparison with our friends down south was also brought forward:

The number of employed as a percentage of the working-age population in Canada, that is the employment rate—when adjusted to U.S. concepts—was markedly lower than that of the United States from the early 1990s until 2002. Since 2002, the adjusted employment rate in Canada has been higher, with the gap between the two countries widening since late 2006.

Better employment numbers in Canada? Good thing to hear.

The Big Table

Stats Canada also has lots more data with their monthly numbers and I like to include at least one of their tables:

Table 1 Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted