58,000 jobs added to the market, but most positions are part-time
Employment in Canada continues to see positive growth as the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 7.6 per cent last month, Statistics Canada reports. Employment rose by 58,000 jobs, and year-over-year, April saw an employment increase of 283,000 jobs.
Most of the jobs created last month were in the part-time category, adding 41,100 positions. Analysts point this out as an indicator of a still fragile job market. The 17,000 full-time jobs created last month, though, did bring employment rates back to the levels prior to the recession.
Almost all of the gains occurred in Ontario where 54,800 jobs were added, bringing the unemployment rate for the province to 7.9 per cent. This is the lowest the province has seen since October 2008. Newfoundland and Labrador was the province that saw the second most growth in the country, adding 3,100 jobs.
The provinces that had the greatest loss last month were Nova Scotia, losing 5,500 jobs, and Manitoba, which lost 3,300 jobs.
Increases in April were mostly concentrated in the service sector, which added 36,000 jobs.
The public sector, which experienced a decrease the previous month, saw an increase of 2.8 per cent. Employment benefited from an increase of 1.6 per cent in the private sector. Self-employment remained almost stagnant.
American unemployment rates increased to 9.0 per cent last month, up 0.2 percentage points from March. This is the first time the U.S. hasn’t seen a growth in employment in five months. Despite this change, “non-farm employment” increased by 244,000 jobs.
U.S. employment in the private sector grew the most with a gain of 268,000. However, government employment numbers keep declining, dropping by 24,000 jobs last month. State and local governments continue to try to close their budget gaps.
