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More Jobs for May in Canada

On Friday Stats Canada put out their Labour Force Survey for May 2013 and there was some good news in that there were 95,000 (mostly full-time) jobs in the economy (month to month). These new numbers also pushed the Unemployment Rate down 0.1%, again good to hear. To quote the report directly:

Employment rose in construction; retail and wholesale trade; “other services;” and business, building and other support services.

While that is good news, more money in construction, could mean the over-priced Canadian housing industry is bubbling employment (as well as cost of living) and if the bubble ever goes burst, where will these jobs go (my assumption is down the toilet)?

Employment Graph
Employment For Last Little While

A more heartening statement from the report was:

All of the employment gains in May were among private sector employees, offsetting losses over the previous two months for this group.

More private sector jobs is a good thing for the economy. Canada is relying far too much on the public sector to keep folks employed, and the more private sector jobs (hopefully not all in construction) is a good thing.

Unemployment Graph
Unemployment for the Past Little While

A Big Table

Where were the gains by age group? Luckily the lost generation seems to be getting jobs (15-24) and we old folks are finding work as well (hopefully not as sheet rock installers (a young person’s job)):

Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted

April 2013 May 2013 Std error1 April to
May 2013
May 2012
to
May 2013
April to May
2013
May 2012 to May
2013
thousands (except rates) change in thousands (except rates) % change
Both sexes, 15 years and over
Population 28,588.7 28,619.6 30.9 348.0 0.1 1.2
Labour force 19,016.1 19,097.0 29.1 80.9 217.6 0.4 1.2
Employment 17,654.4 17,749.4 28.7 95.0 250.2 0.5 1.4
Full-time 14,355.0 14,431.7 38.2 76.7 258.8 0.5 1.8
Part-time 3,299.4 3,317.6 35.1 18.2 -8.7 0.6 -0.3
Unemployment 1,361.7 1,347.6 25.2 -14.1 -32.7 -1.0 -2.4
Participation rate 66.5 66.7 0.1 0.2 -0.1
Unemployment rate 7.2 7.1 0.1 -0.1 -0.2
Employment rate 61.8 62.0 0.1 0.2 0.1
Part-time rate 18.7 18.7 0.2 0.0 -0.3
Youths, 15 to 24 years
Population 4,451.2 4,450.1 -1.1 -7.2 0.0 -0.2
Labour force 2,839.5 2,873.4 17.2 33.9 31.5 1.2 1.1
Employment 2,428.1 2,482.5 15.9 54.4 48.2 2.2 2.0
Full-time 1,292.0 1,338.0 18.5 46.0 60.5 3.6 4.7
Part-time 1,136.2 1,144.6 19.4 8.4 -12.2 0.7 -1.1
Unemployment 411.4 390.9 15.1 -20.5 -16.7 -5.0 -4.1
Participation rate 63.8 64.6 0.4 0.8 0.8
Unemployment rate 14.5 13.6 0.5 -0.9 -0.7
Employment rate 54.5 55.8 0.4 1.3 1.2
Part-time rate 46.8 46.1 0.7 -0.7 -1.4
Men, 25 years and over
Population 11,815.9 11,831.8 15.9 177.9 0.1 1.5
Labour force 8,567.0 8,593.7 15.1 26.7 92.1 0.3 1.1
Employment 8,042.6 8,058.4 16.3 15.8 87.4 0.2 1.1
Full-time 7,416.7 7,442.2 21.6 25.5 79.6 0.3 1.1
Part-time 625.9 616.3 17.4 -9.6 8.0 -1.5 1.3
Unemployment 524.4 535.3 14.7 10.9 4.7 2.1 0.9
Participation rate 72.5 72.6 0.1 0.1 -0.4
Unemployment rate 6.1 6.2 0.2 0.1 0.0
Employment rate 68.1 68.1 0.1 0.0 -0.3
Part-time rate 7.8 7.6 0.2 -0.2 0.0
Women, 25 years and over
Population 12,321.5 12,337.6 16.1 177.2 0.1 1.5
Labour force 7,609.6 7,629.8 16.5 20.2 93.9 0.3 1.2
Employment 7,183.7 7,208.4 16.4 24.7 114.5 0.3 1.6
Full-time 5,646.4 5,651.6 25.0 5.2 118.8 0.1 2.1
Part-time 1,537.4 1,556.8 23.6 19.4 -4.4 1.3 -0.3
Unemployment 425.9 421.4 13.4 -4.5 -20.6 -1.1 -4.7
Participation rate 61.8 61.8 0.1 0.0 -0.2
Unemployment rate 5.6 5.5 0.2 -0.1 -0.4
Employment rate 58.3 58.4 0.1 0.1 0.1
Part-time rate 21.4 21.6 0.3 0.2 -0.4
1. Average standard error for change in two consecutive months. See “Sampling Errors” in the section “About the Labour Force Survey” at the end of the publication Labour Force Information (Catalogue number71-001-X) for further explanations.
Note(s): 
Related CANSIM table 282-0087.

Feel Free to Comment

  1. Around here a lot of the housing starts are raze and re-builds to put a monstrous house on an old-fashioned (e.g. reasonable size) lot. It doesn’t increase the supply pool, per se, but it does increase the average home cost. I’m not sure how exactly this type of construction will impact jobs in housing but it might help a bit if new subdivision type building falls off sharply.

  2. Thomas | Your Daily Finance

    I have noticed the same with the construction here in the US. I see a lot of building but there is still so much inventory. Some aren’t even listed as banks really want you to think there is limited supply. Don’t know if we can stand another housing burst.

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