Canadian Unemployment Rate At 6.0%

April 4 2008 - Statistics Canada reports that the unemployment rate rose to 6.0% in March even though employment rose by an estimated 15,000 over the month. The participation rate to 68.0% - the highest ever..

Only Alberta and British Columbia registered significant jobs growth during the month.

Seasonally adjusted, unemployment rates vary from 12.6% (Newfoundland and Labrador) to 3.4% (Alberta).

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

• Newfoundland and Labrador 12.6% (13.1%)
• Prince Edward Island 10.4% (10.0%)
• Nova Scotia 7.9% (7.7%)
• New Brunswick 8.5% (8.1%)
• Quebec 7.3% (7.0%)
• Ontario 6.4% (6.1%)
• Manitoba 4.3% (4.2%)
• Saskatchewan 4.1% (4.1%)
• Alberta 3.4% (3.5%)
• British Columbia 4.3% (4.1%)

Commenting on the employment figures, Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress said:

"Growth in job creation is slowing down, the gap is widening between the two westernmost provinces and the rest of the country, the new jobs are all part-time: the employment situation in Canada needs more attention than it now gets from the federal government.

"Clearly, the losses in central Canada and overall reduction in employment growth show that the recession in the US is being felt in Canada. Does our government have a plan to protect Canadian working families from a continuing slowdown? The labour movement has practical proposals to address sustained creation of good jobs and they will be central in the debates at our triennial convention next month in Toronto."

CLC Chief Economist Andrew Jackson provided the following analysis:

• Today's labour force numbers give clear evidence that the US recession is now spilling over into Canada, especially in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose from 5.8% to 6.0% in March as total employment rose by just 15,000. However, in the two largest provinces, the picture was far worse. Ontario lost 25,000 full-time jobs and the unemployment rate rose from 6.1% to 6.4%. Quebec lost 22,000 full-time jobs, and the unemployment rate jumped from 7.0% to 7.3%. These are big changes for a single month. The Maritime provinces also showed signs of growing weakness.
• Almost all of the job gains were in BC and Alberta. And, at the national level, it was only strong growth of part-time jobs (up 34,000) which kept the unemployment rate from rising more than it did.
• We lost another 9,400 manufacturing jobs in March and full-time employment among youth fell by 24,000.
• The seriously weakening job market in central and eastern Canada underlines the need for a comprehensive national jobs strategy - which will be the subject of debate at next month's CLC national convention.

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