Mar 9, 2018 – The Canada unemployment rate fell to 5.8 per cent in February in a solid set of Canada jobs figures released by the federal government.
The number of people working rose by 15,400 across the country during the month, bringing the total to 283,000 for the last year, an increase of 1.5 per cent.
The year-on-year gains are entirely in full-time work, with the number of hours worked by Canadians rising 3.2 per cent, feeding economic growth.
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Importantly, February saw employment increases in the core 25 to 54 age group for both men and women, with negligible change for younger and older people.
The boost of 41,000 in core-age employment was split evenly between the sexes, with men seeing a 22,000 rise and women a 19,000 increase.
Canada Jobs Snapshot End February
Unemployment rate (%) | 5.8 |
Employment rate (%) | 61.7 |
Labour force participation rate (%) | 65.5 |
Number unemployed | 1,144,300 |
Number working | 18,572,500 |
Youth (15-24) unemployment rate (%) | 11.1 |
Men (over 25) unemployment rate (%) | 5.1 |
Women (over 25) unemployment rate (%) | 4.8 |
Source: Statistics Canada
Provincial Canada Jobs Picture
Provincially, February produced another solid set of results from the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey.
New Brunswick led the way with an increase of 5,100 mainly-full-time jobs for a 1.5 per cent increase on the month.
Nova Scotia also had a good month, with employment rising by 2,800, an increase of 0.6 per cent. Over the last year, employment has increased by 10,000 in the province, or 2.3 per cent, with the current unemployment rate at 7.9 per cent.
Ontario added 15,700 jobs in February, with Canada’s largest province seeing its unemployment rate drop to 5.5 per cent.
However, British Columbia still leads the way on unemployment with a rate of 4.7 per cent, at least 0.8 percentage points lower than all the other provinces.
Jobs Data in the Provinces
Jobs change January | Unemployment rate (%) | |
1) British Columbia | -3,400 | 4.7 |
2) Ontario | 15,700 | 5.5 |
3=) Saskatchewan | -2,900 | 5.6 |
3=) Quebec | -2,900 | 5.6 |
5) Manitoba | -500 | 5.9 |
6) Alberta | 2,300 | 6.7 |
7) Nova Scotia | 2,800 | 7.9 |
8) New Brunswick | -5,100 | 8.2 |
9) Prince Edward Island | 500 | 10.1 |
10) Newfoundland & Labrador | -1,400 | 14.0 |
CANADA | 15,400 | 5.8 |
Source: Statistics Canada
Canada Jobs Data By Industry
Health care and social assistance saw the largest increase in February when looking at the Canada jobs data by industry, with employment rising by 25,000.
‘Other services’, which includes repair and maintenance, saw a rise of 17,000 jobs for the month.
Meanwhile, transportation and warehousing recorded a monthly increase of 13,000 to consolidate a 12-month increase of 48,000 jobs, or 5.1 per cent.
Other industries to see monthly increases were educational services (12,000), public administration (9,000) and natural resources (7,600).
Elsewhere, public sector employment grew by 50,000 jobs in February, while private sector change was negligible. The number of people self-employed fell by 43,000.
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