Stats Canada pulled  a little bit of good news (economy wise) for Canadians with their Labour Force Survey for August 2012:
After a decline in July, employment rose by 34,000 in August, the result of an increase in part-time work. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.3%.
Any news like this has got to be viewed as better news (even if it is an increase in Part time jobs). Given the haemorrhage of jobs we have lived through any turn around we see is going to take a while to get back to where we might have been in 2008.
The employment graph looks a bit better:
A reason to feel a little better (even if the unemployment rate remains the same).
Sometimes it is easy to get lost in the month by month numbers, but if we look at this in a year over year basis:
On a year-over-year basis, employment increased by 1.0% or 177,000, with most of the gains occurring in the spring of this year. Virtually all of the increase in the 12-month period was in full-time work. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked rose 0.7%.
The economy generating 177,000 jobs in a year is a very good thing, and as a percentage a little better than our brothers down south (I think).
 The Big Table
As usual I include one of the BIG stats tables as well, I just love all those numbers:
Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted
| July 2012 | August 2012 | July to August 2012 |
Aug 2011 to Aug 2012 |
July to Aug 2012 |
Aug 2011 to Aug 2012 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 28,338.2 | 28,362.9 | 24.7 | 330.2 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Labour force | 18,856.4 | 18,886.9 | 30.5 | 185.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| Employment | 17,479.3 | 17,513.6 | 34.3 | 176.6 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| Full-time | 14,223.9 | 14,211.4 | -12.5 | 172.2 | -0.1 | 1.2 |
| Part-time | 3,255.5 | 3,302.2 | 46.7 | 4.3 | 1.4 | 0.1 |
| Unemployment | 1,377.0 | 1,373.3 | -3.7 | 8.5 | -0.3 | 0.6 |
| Participation rate | 66.5 | 66.6 | 0.1 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.3 | 7.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 61.7 | 61.7 | 0.0 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 18.6 | 18.9 | 0.3 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,458.2 | 4,458.1 | -0.1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Labour force | 2,831.9 | 2,822.5 | -9.4 | -59.4 | -0.3 | -2.1 |
| Employment | 2,427.9 | 2,405.7 | -22.2 | -72.2 | -0.9 | -2.9 |
| Full-time | 1,289.5 | 1,269.5 | -20.0 | -27.7 | -1.6 | -2.1 |
| Part-time | 1,138.4 | 1,136.2 | -2.2 | -44.6 | -0.2 | -3.8 |
| Unemployment | 404.1 | 416.8 | 12.7 | 12.9 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Participation rate | 63.5 | 63.3 | -0.2 | -1.4 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 14.3 | 14.8 | 0.5 | 0.8 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 54.5 | 54.0 | -0.5 | -1.6 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 46.9 | 47.2 | 0.3 | -0.5 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,687.1 | 11,699.5 | 12.4 | 164.8 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 8,503.5 | 8,512.9 | 9.4 | 131.6 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| Employment | 7,963.2 | 7,979.1 | 15.9 | 124.7 | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Full-time | 7,344.2 | 7,357.4 | 13.2 | 111.4 | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| Part-time | 619.0 | 621.7 | 2.7 | 13.3 | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| Unemployment | 540.3 | 533.8 | -6.5 | 6.9 | -1.2 | 1.3 |
| Participation rate | 72.8 | 72.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.4 | 6.3 | -0.1 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.1 | 68.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.8 | 7.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,192.8 | 12,205.3 | 12.5 | 164.9 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 7,521.0 | 7,551.5 | 30.5 | 112.8 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| Employment | 7,088.3 | 7,128.9 | 40.6 | 124.2 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Full-time | 5,590.2 | 5,584.6 | -5.6 | 88.6 | -0.1 | 1.6 |
| Part-time | 1,498.0 | 1,544.3 | 46.3 | 35.6 | 3.1 | 2.4 |
| Unemployment | 432.7 | 422.6 | -10.1 | -11.4 | -2.3 | -2.6 |
| Participation rate | 61.7 | 61.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.8 | 5.6 | -0.2 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.1 | 58.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.1 | 21.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | … | … |
