Workplace Challenges
Construction boosts self-employment rateCanada's unemployment rate edged up ever so slightly to 6.5% last month, still among the lowest rates in 30 years. Self-employment enjoyed resurgence following large declines early in the year, thanks in part to gains in construction. LINDA WHITE |
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 [ 2006-09-13 ] |
According to Statistics Canada, unemployment rose 0.1 percentage points over the previous month. Self-employment rebounded by 27,000 in August. Trade, business, building and other support services joined construction in contributing to the hike.
VIRTUALLY FLAT EMPLOYMENT
Overall, employment remained virtually flat for the third consecutive month -- marking the longest stretch without gains since the end of 2001. But the pause in employment growth follows a period of very strong gains, StatsCan assures in its monthly Labour Force Survey, released Friday.
Employment is up 194,000 so far this year, due entirely to increases in full-time work. It jumped 47,000 last month, but was more than offset by the loss of 63,000 part-time jobs, mainly among women and youth.
Once again, the country lost jobs in manufacturing, with August marking the lowest level of employment for this industry since March 1998. Manufacturing has lost 87,000 jobs since the beginning of 2006, due largely to waning foreign demand. Employment also fell in education and public administration.
Only professional, scientific and technical services posted large job gains last month, with more workers in architectural, engineering and design services. Still, employment in this industry is about the same as at the beginning of the year.
Last month's hot spot was once again Alberta, which added 8,000 new jobs. However, the provincial unemployment rate increased to 4.2% from 3.6% in July as people moved to the oil-rich province in search of jobs and red-hot wages. Average hourly earnings have increased 3.7% from August 2005 but in Alberta, hourly wages increased a whopping 8.3% in the same time period.
Alberta can take credit for a huge portion of the nation's employment gains. It has churned out 78,000 or 40% of all new jobs in Canada since the beginning of 2006 -- an incredible share, particularly from a province that accounts for just 10% of the country's working-age population.
Ontario has posted 68,000 new jobs in that same time period. In Newfoundland and Labrador, a large jump in full-time employment in pushed the employment rate to a near-record high of 50.5% in August. The gains were spread across several industries.
Older students aged 20 to 24 enjoyed their best August for summer employment in three years. Their employment rate was 72%, up 2.6 percentage points from the same time last year. Nearly 70% of those earning paychecks had full-time jobs. Their unemployment rate was 5.5%, compared to 6.6% in August 2005.
BRIGHT FOR TEENS
The month was also bright for teens aged 17 to 19, with 62.7% employed -- also the highest rate in three years. About half of those were employed full time. For the summer as a whole, that group of students boasted the largest employment increase from the previous summer with an increase of 2.3 percentage points -- nearly twice that for students in their early 20s.
How is Canada faring compared to the United States? Employment growth here paralleled that of our southern neighbour over the first eight months of the year (+1.3%). Unemployment declined by a similar amount in the same time period.
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