Canada: September Unemployment Rate 5.9 Percent

The Canadian unemployment rate dipped 0.1 percentage points to 5.9 percent in September, the first time since November 1974 that the rate has been below 6.0 percent. Employment rose by an estimated 51,000, with gains concentrated in full-time employment.

In September, core-age workers—that is, persons aged 25 to 54—experienced their first significant gain in employment (+40,000) since the start of the year.

Older workers (aged 55 and over) also showed employment strength with an increase of 23,000 in September.

Employment increased by an estimated 30,000 in Ontario, all full-time work. Despite this increase, employment growth in the province over the first nine months of the year remains below the national average of 1.7 percent.

The largest employment increases in September were in educational services, followed by public administration; professional, scientific and technical services; and agriculture. There were declines, however, in retail trade.

Employees, on average, earned 4.2 percent more per hour in September than they did in September 2006, while the most recent year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index was 1.7 percent. This is the largest estimated year-over-year increase in average hourly wages since the Labour Force Survey began collecting this information in 1997.

Ontario
Ontario’s overall employment picture improved in September. Employment in the province increased by an estimated 30,000, the first significant gain this year, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 6.2 percent.

In September, the largest increases in employment in Ontario were in educational services as well as in information, culture and recreation. There were also gains in public administration, mostly at the local, municipal and provincial levels. Some of this gain was likely the result of the hiring of additional workers for the provincial election. Manufacturing, however, continued to slump, with 44,000 fewer workers over the first nine months of this year.

Saskatchewan
The employment picture also improved in Saskatchewan in September, with an estimated increase of 7,000, all in the service-producing sector. This increase, however, only brings employment in the province back to the same level as at the end of 2006. September’s employment increase pushed the unemployment rate down 1.1 percentage points to 3.8 percent, the second lowest in the country after Alberta.

Alberta
The strongest employment growth over the first nine months of 2007 occurred in Alberta, up 3.4 percent, with gains across a number of industries. The unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent in September, remained the lowest in the country.

New Brunswick
New Brunswick had the second-strongest employment growth (+2.5 percent) in the country so far this year. However, the unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 8.2 percent in September, the result of more people looking for work.

British Columbia
British Columbia ranks third in employment growth so far this year (+2.2 percent), with the largest gains in retail trade as well as construction. With no employment change in September and an increase in the number of people entering the labour force in search of work, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 4.3 percent.

Quebec
Quebec’s employment growth so far this year (+2.0 percent) has also been above the national average, with gains in part-time employment (+8.0 percent) outpacing those of full-time work (+0.7 percent). Increases for the year have been in accommodation and food services; trade; and construction and utilities. Similar to Ontario, Quebec’s manufacturing sector employment has also declined in 2007. In September, the unemployment rate returned to its 33-year low of 6.9 percent, and the employment rate remained at its record high of 61.1 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

Manitoba
Manitoba’s employment growth so far this year, at 1.9 percent, was led by gains in professional, scientific and technical services as well as construction. The proportion of working-age Manitobans with a job reached 66.5 percent in September, an all-time high.