CANADIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Canada: Yearend labor force survey

Friday, 4 January 2008

Canada's attractive employment rate could lure even more immigrants. It has been found that in the second quarter of 2007, Canada’s employment rate was higher than that of the United States and most European countries.

As more people entered the labor force during the month of November, the unemployment rate moved up 0.1 of a percentage point to 5.9%. Among European countries, only the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden enjoyed higher rates of employment.

Canadian employment rose by an estimated 43,000 in the month of November, pushing the employment rate to another record high (63.8%). By December, employment has increased 2.3% (+388,000), stronger than the 1.8% increase seen over the same period in 2006.

While, November’s employment gains were mostly in the private sector, employment growth in the public sector continued to outpace that of the private sector for the past 12 months.

The four industries that recorded employment increases in November were: transportation and warehousing; business, building and other support services; educational services; and natural resources.

British Columbia added an estimated 26,000 workers to its workforce in November, rising to 80,000 (+3.6%) since the start of 2007. The job increases were all for full-time positions, pushing the employment rate to a record high of 63.9%, with almost half of this increase being in construction, followed by information, culture and recreation; and transportation and warehousing.

Employment in Quebec increased 19,000 in November, all in part-time, with gains spread across the service sector. Quebec’s employment rate reached a new record high of 61.4% in November.

New Brunswick experienced the fastest pace of growth among all provinces with employment rising by 5,000 in November. The province also experienced a large increase in its employment rate reaching a record high of 60.0% in November.

Saskatchewan experienced employment gains for the third consecutive month, up by 5,000 in November and Ontario’s unemployment rate increased to 6.2% in November.

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