Canada’s unemployment rate remains unchanged at 8.5%
Posted January 8, 2010 8:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.5 per cent in December, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Overall, there were 2,600 fewer Canadians employed in December, below economists’ consensus of a 20,000 jobs pick-up and far below November’s eye-popping 79,000 increase.
The December data brought an end to a disastrous year in which a total of 323,000 net jobs were lost in Canada, mostly in the battered manufacturing sector.
But there was encouraging news, the government agency said.
After suffering massive losses last fall and spring, Canada’s labour market has largely stabilized and there were signs of improvement, particularly in the construction sector. That sector is up 30,000 jobs since March.
As well, overall hours worked have increased by 2.2 per cent since April and more recently full-time employment has also begun to tick up.
Average hourly wages rose 2.4 per cent in 2009, well below the 4.3 per cent pace of a year ago.
Economists have forecast that employment growth will become more sustained throughout 2010, with a total of 200,000 to 300,000 jobs created.
December’s data shows several offsetting changes by industry that kept the number of employed from changing significantly.
The public sector, which had been the engine of job growth through much of the recession, dropped 22,100 workers during the month.
As well, there were 24,000 fewer jobs in transportation and warehousing, while business, building and other support services saw a decrease of 23,000.
Offsetting the losses were gains of 35,000 in health care and social assistance, and 33,000 in professional, scientific and technical services.
The number of self-employed Canadians also rose in December by 15,200, suggesting that the labour market remains tight.
