Canadian Unemployment rate Highest in 11 years

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
June 5, 2009


http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/fp/Canadian+unemployment+rate+highest+years/1666221/story.html
CALGARY - Canada's unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points in May to 8.4 per cent, the highest rate in 11 years as the country shed another 42,000 jobs during the month.

Statistics Canada said today that since the employment peak of last October, employment has fallen by 363,0000 or 2.1 per cent.

In Alberta, the province's unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent from 6.0 per cent in April. Alberta actually gained 600 jobs in May overall comprised of 7,700 full-time jobs but a decline of 7,100 part-time jobs.

The province also saw its labour force participation rate drop by 70.0 per cent in April to 69.8 per cent in May.

In Calgary, the unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent from 6.3 per cent in May.

There were large declines in full-time employment ( 59,000) in May, bringing total full-time losses since October to 406,000 (2.9 per cent). Over the same period, part-time employment has continued to trend up, increasing by 44,000 (1.4 per cent).

The average hourly wage for employees was 3.4 per cent higher in May compared with the same month a year earlier, the lowest year-over-year increase in two years.

Ontario was the only province to experience a substantial employment decline in May, down 60,000, bringing total losses since last October to 234,000 or 3.5 per cent. While Ontario accounts for 39 per cent of the total working-age population, it has experienced 64 per cent of overall employment losses since the start of the labour market downturn.

Ontario's unemployment rate in May rose by 0.7 percentage points from the previous month to 9.4 per cent, the highest in 15 years.

Manufacturing employment continued on its downward trend with a decline of 58,000 in May, mostly in Ontario. This brings losses since October to 186,000 or 9.4 per cent, with the largest decline in transportation equipment manufacturing. Ontario has experienced the brunt of overall manufacturing losses over this period.

In May 2009, there were 778,000 factory workers in Ontario, the lowest level since comparable data became available in 1976. Manufacturing employment in Ontario reached a peak in November 2002 with 1,115,000 workers.

"It’s hardly shocking that Canadian employment has retreated again --- the job shakeout likely still has a way to go, even if the broader economy bottoms out in the coming months," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist for BMO Capital Markets...
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