Large Employment Losses for Ontario

Ontario suffered in November from a steep fall in employment. Overall, however, the Canadian unemployment rate rose only slightly to 6.3 percent.

Ontario
Figure from Statistics Canada show the largest employment declines in November were in Ontario, down 66,000. Full-time workers and men aged 25 and over were most affected. Ontario’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.1 percent in November from 6.5 percent the previous month.

A fall in manufacturing employment was the main reason for the steep decline. Since 2002, the start of the downward trend, this sector’s share of employment in Ontario has fallen from 18 percent to 13 percent.

Quebec
Employment in Quebec was unchanged in November, with gains in full-time work offsetting losses in part-time. The unemployment rate edged down to 7.1 percent.

Employment in Quebec has little changed since the start of the year as increases in health care & social assistance; manufacturing and construction were offset by declines in transportation & warehousing; trade and agriculture.

Ontario’s unemployment rate has been historically lower than Quebec’s, however the unemployment rates in these two provinces have been converging over the last few years. With the jump in unemployment in Ontario in November and no change in Quebec, the two rates are now the same for the first time in over 30 years.

Nova Scotia
Employment decreased in Nova Scotia by 4,400 in November, all in part time. This caused the unemployment rate to edge up to 7.8 percent.

Other Provinces
While employment in the other provinces was little changed in November, the fastest pace of employment growth so far in 2008 has been in Saskatchewan (+3.2%), Alberta (+2.1%) and Manitoba (+1.8%).

Industry Sectors
The manufacturing sector was hard hit in November, with an employment drop of 38,000.

Following gains in October associated with hiring for the federal election, employment in public administration fell by 27,000 in November. Even so, this industry has registered growth of 2.5 percent over the past 11 months.

In November, employment declines were also observed in transportation and warehousing, educational services and agriculture.

Employment in health care and social assistance grew by 18,000 in November, pushing gains since the beginning of the year to 68,000 (+3.6%). Professional, scientific and technical services also increased in November, bringing increases so far this year to 67,000 (+5.8%).

The employment decrease in November was split evenly between employees in the public and private sectors, while self-employment remained unchanged.