Manitoba employment on upward trend despite dip in September

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This article was published 06/10/2017 (3016 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba was hit with its first major job losses in nearly 18 months in September, which drove up the provincial unemployment rate by more than a half a percentage point, new data shows.

In its monthly Labour Force Survey report released on Friday, Statistics Canada said the Manitoba economy posted a net loss 5,500 jobs in September, with 5,200 of them being part-time positions.

“This was the first notable overall employment decrease in the province since April 2016,” the agency said.

However, “despite the monthly decline, employment in Manitoba has been on an upward trend since the end of 2016,” it added.

The September job losses drove up the province’s unemployment rate to 5.5 per cent from a country-best 4.9 per cent in August. British Columbia reclaimed its position as the province with the lowest jobless rate after its rate dipped fell to 4.9 per cent from 5.1 per cent in August.

On the bright side, the Statistics Canada data show that despite September’s job losses, there were still 12,900 more full-time workers in the province last month than in September 2016. Those gains were only partially offset by the loss of 1,200 part-time workers, for a net year-over-year gain of 11,700.

Nationally, a surge in full-time work in September fuelled a 10th-straight month of net job gains to match the economy’s longest monthly streak since the financial crisis nine years ago, Statistics Canada said.

The national unemployment rate stayed at a nine-year low of 6.2 per cent in September after Canada added 10,000 net new jobs, including 112,000 full-time positions.

The rise in full-time work more than offset a drop of 102,000 part-time jobs, but last month’s net job gain was driven by growth in public-sector employment.

The September jobs report also showed yet another improvement in the important indicator of wage growth. Compared to the year before, average hourly wages grew at the above-inflation pace of 2.2 per cent, for the biggest increase since April 2016.

The numbers show the employment increase was also concentrated in factory work as the goods-producing sector added 10,500 jobs, compared to a loss of 500 positions in the services industry.

The survey detected a gain of 10,800 paid employee jobs, while the number of people who described themselves as self-employed, including unpaid workers in family businesses, fell by 800.

CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld said the report showed Canada’s job market was “ho-hum” last month and in line with other signals of a moderation in economic growth.

He suggested that weighs against the probability of a third interest rate hike this year from the Bank of Canada.

”Overall, the 10,000 pace is about what we would expect as a trend if GDP growth is tailing off to the two per cent range in the second half of the year, enough of a slowdown to keep the Bank of Canada on hold until 2018,” Shenfeld wrote in a research note to clients.

Statistics Canada said Ontario gained 34,700 jobs in September for its fourth monthly increase in five months and, compared to a year earlier, the province’s employment was 2.4 per cent higher. Manitoba shed 5,500 positions for its first notable decline since April 2016, the report said.

Overall, the national numbers show that Canada’s year-over-year employment expanded 1.8 per cent with the addition of 319,700 net new jobs, of which more than 90 per cent were full-time positions.

The run of 10 consecutive months of job creation marked the country’s longest streak of total employment gains since February 2008.

— with files by The Canadian Press

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca