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January 8 2010 - Statistics Canada reported that unemployment remained at 8.5% in December with little change in overall employment levels. But employment was still down by 323,000 from the peak in the job market in October 2008.

Seasonally adjusted, unemployment rates vary from 15.7% (Newfoundland and Labrador) to 4.8% (Saskatchewan).

Rates for all the provinces were (previous month in brackets):

• Newfoundland and Labrador 15.7% (15.9%)
• Prince Edward Island 10.7% (11.7%)
• Nova Scotia 9.6% (9.5%)
• New Brunswick 8.9% (8.8%)
• Quebec 8.4% (8.1%)
• Ontario 9.3% (9.3%)
• Manitoba 5.7% (5.3%)
• Saskatchewan 4.8% (5.2%)
• Alberta 6.7% (7.4%)
• British Columbia 8.4% (8.3%)

Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress commented that job creation should be a government priority:

"Workers have had a dismal year and we're not out of the woods yet," adding that both the number and quality of jobs available are big issues for workers.

"The income of most Canadian workers has dropped in the past decade, even while corporate executives saw their pay outpace inflation by 70%. Too many other Canadians are surviving on poorly paid and part-time jobs. The middle class is taking a beating and we have to turn that around."

He noted that younger workers have been especially hard hit with youth unemployment remaining at 16.1%. "The United Nations has declared 2010 as the International Year of Youth, but in Canada we are failing those young people. The federal government has to do something to help out here and they can begin with the budget in March."

CLC Senior Economist Sylvain Schetagne provided the following analysis:

• Those who began to celebrate signs of a fast recovery of the labour market last month may be feeling a kind of hangover today. No jobs were created in December 2009. The level of employment was down by 2,600 between November and December. The number of employees declined by 17,800 while the number of self-employed workers, a less secure form of employment, increased by 15,200 during the same period. In December 2009, employment was down significantly for women in the 25 to 54 age group (-23,900), in the public sector overall (-22,100), and in public administration (-21,600). The number of unemployed is at 1,567,800, which is 36.5% higher than it was in October 2008.
• Since that month, 341,900 full-time jobs have been lost by working Canadians. Half of these lay-offs occurred for those in the 15 to 24 age group. They lost 170,400 out of the 341,900 full-time jobs lost since October 2008. The unemployment rate among 15 to 24 year-olds went from 12.2% to 16.1% between October 2008 and December 2009, leaving 458,400 Canadians aged 15-24 unemployed last month.

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