Just to show that some Civil Servants do work the Friday before a long weekend our friends at Stats Canada published (in the morning) the September 2013 Labour Force Survey for Canada, and on the surface it suggests things are wonderful, peachy, rosy, and happy unicorns in terms of jobs in Canada, or does it?
I make that sarcastic comment on the basis of the “Big Media” jumping all over the fact that the “Unemployment Rate” dropped 0.2% (year over year) and is now sitting at 6.9%, which sounds wonderful. Even the graph looks all nice and happy:
Looking at the Graph, you’d think we were getting back to the “days of wine and roses” of 2008, but not quite if you really look at the numbers. The telling statement in the report for jobs is:
Employment was up 1.2% (+212,000) compared with 12 months earlier. During this same period, however, the employment rate was little changed, as employment and the working-age population grew at a similar pace.
So more folks have jobs, but there were more folk looking for jobs as well, so it kind of becomes a wash in terms of “employed folks” as a percentage:
I did like seeing that:
The number of private sector employees increased in September, while self-employment declined.
There is a real need for the Private Sector to hire more folks, so there is less reliance on Public Sector jobs to drive the economy.
Big Table from Stats Canada
Here is the big table in terms of jobs by age group (I removed the standard error column),
Labour force characteristics by age and sex – Seasonally adjusted
|
August 2013 |
September 2013 |
Aug to Sept 2013 |
Sept 2012 to Sept 2013 |
Aug to Sept 2013 |
Sept 2012 to Sept 2013 |
|||
|
change in thousands (except rates) |
% change |
|||||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||||
| Population |
28,724.6 |
28,762.9 |
38.3 |
374.6 |
0.1 |
1.3 |
||
| Labour force |
19,130.8 |
19,105.7 |
-25.1 |
149.5 |
-0.1 |
0.8 |
||
| Employment |
17,768.8 |
17,780.7 |
11.9 |
212.4 |
0.1 |
1.2 |
||
| Full-time |
14,398.4 |
14,421.8 |
23.4 |
157.8 |
0.2 |
1.1 |
||
| Part-time |
3,370.4 |
3,358.9 |
-11.5 |
54.6 |
-0.3 |
1.7 |
||
| Unemployment |
1,362.0 |
1,325.0 |
-37.0 |
-62.9 |
-2.7 |
-4.5 |
||
| Participation rate |
66.6 |
66.4 |
-0.2 |
-0.4 |
… |
… |
||
| Unemployment rate |
7.1 |
6.9 |
-0.2 |
-0.4 |
… |
… |
||
| Employment rate |
61.9 |
61.8 |
-0.1 |
-0.1 |
… |
… |
||
| Part-time rate |
19.0 |
18.9 |
-0.1 |
0.1 |
… |
… |
||
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||||
| Population |
4,449.5 |
4,447.0 |
-2.5 |
-10.6 |
-0.1 |
-0.2 |
||
| Labour force |
2,846.1 |
2,824.7 |
-21.4 |
-18.9 |
-0.8 |
-0.7 |
||
| Employment |
2,445.6 |
2,461.3 |
15.7 |
41.8 |
0.6 |
1.7 |
||
| Full-time |
1,263.4 |
1,286.0 |
22.6 |
14.2 |
1.8 |
1.1 |
||
| Part-time |
1,182.2 |
1,175.3 |
-6.9 |
27.7 |
-0.6 |
2.4 |
||
| Unemployment |
400.5 |
363.4 |
-37.1 |
-60.8 |
-9.3 |
-14.3 |
||
| Participation rate |
64.0 |
63.5 |
-0.5 |
-0.3 |
… |
… |
||
| Unemployment rate |
14.1 |
12.9 |
-1.2 |
-2.0 |
… |
… |
||
| Employment rate |
55.0 |
55.3 |
0.3 |
1.0 |
… |
… |
||
| Part-time rate |
48.3 |
47.8 |
-0.5 |
0.4 |
… |
… |
||
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||||
| Population |
11,885.3 |
11,906.1 |
20.8 |
193.5 |
0.2 |
1.7 |
||
| Labour force |
8,615.1 |
8,613.0 |
-2.1 |
71.6 |
0.0 |
0.8 |
||
| Employment |
8,084.4 |
8,080.1 |
-4.3 |
75.4 |
-0.1 |
0.9 |
||
| Full-time |
7,455.9 |
7,444.2 |
-11.7 |
44.8 |
-0.2 |
0.6 |
||
| Part-time |
628.5 |
635.9 |
7.4 |
30.6 |
1.2 |
5.1 |
||
| Unemployment |
530.8 |
532.9 |
2.1 |
-3.8 |
0.4 |
-0.7 |
||
| Participation rate |
72.5 |
72.3 |
-0.2 |
-0.6 |
… |
… |
||
| Unemployment rate |
6.2 |
6.2 |
0.0 |
-0.1 |
… |
… |
||
| Employment rate |
68.0 |
67.9 |
-0.1 |
-0.4 |
… |
… |
||
| Part-time rate |
7.8 |
7.9 |
0.1 |
0.3 |
… |
… |
||
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||||
| Population |
12,389.8 |
12,409.8 |
20.0 |
191.7 |
0.2 |
1.6 |
||
| Labour force |
7,669.6 |
7,668.0 |
-1.6 |
96.9 |
0.0 |
1.3 |
||
| Employment |
7,238.8 |
7,239.3 |
0.5 |
95.2 |
0.0 |
1.3 |
||
| Full-time |
5,679.1 |
5,691.7 |
12.6 |
98.9 |
0.2 |
1.8 |
||
| Part-time |
1,559.7 |
1,547.6 |
-12.1 |
-3.7 |
-0.8 |
-0.2 |
||
| Unemployment |
430.8 |
428.6 |
-2.2 |
1.5 |
-0.5 |
0.4 |
||
| Participation rate |
61.9 |
61.8 |
-0.1 |
-0.2 |
… |
… |
||
| Unemployment rate |
5.6 |
5.6 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
… |
… |
||
| Employment rate |
58.4 |
58.3 |
-0.1 |
-0.2 |
… |
… |
||
| Part-time rate |
21.5 |
21.4 |
-0.1 |
-0.3 |
… |
… |
||
…
not applicable
- 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):Â
Related CANSIM table 282-0087. The sum of individual categories may not always add to the total as a result of rounding.
