Global| Oct 10 2003Canada Sees Job Increase in September
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Job growth resumed last month in Canada, according to the latest Labor Force Survey, reported today. After slim decreases in July and August, employment posted a 0.3% increase in September. The unemployment rate held steady at 8.0%, [...]
Job growth resumed last month in Canada, according to the latest Labor Force Survey, reported today. After slim decreases in July and August, employment posted a 0.3% increase in September. The unemployment rate held steady at 8.0%, also following two successive months of deterioration, albeit modest.
Health care (+18,000), trade (16,300) and finance (12,600) had the largest job increases, while "other services" fell 18,000, and as in the US, manufacturing continued to lag. Total actual hours worked rebounded 2.2%, a partial offset to August's decline of 3.1%. Over longer spans, growth of both jobs and hours is slowing. Hours are up 0.8% over a year ago for both September and all of the third quarter; this is the smallest annual increase since early 2002, coming out of the last recession.
The employment slowdown is concentrated in manufacturing and closely related industries, including transportation and warehousing and technical support. In contrast, the accommodation and food service sector is generating stronger jobs gains, along with forestry, construction, recreation, finance and public administration. The emphasis on travel and tourism evident in this latter group is a bit unexpected in the face of slower growth in employment in basic Canadian industries. Perhaps the gains in these more discretionary sectors are due less to domestic travel than to an influx of foreign tourists. At the same time then, recent strengthening of the Canadian dollar could signal a cautionary outlook for those sectors as a sustained source of new jobs.
| Sep 2003 | Aug 2003 |
July 2003 |
Year/ Year |
2002 | 2001 | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change in Total Employment (thousands) | +46.3 (+0.3%) | -19.0 (-0.1%) | -13.3 (-0.1%) | 224.3 (+1.4%) | Dec/Dec % Change | ||
| 3.7% | 0.1% | 2.2% | |||||
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 8.0% | 8.0% | 7.8% | 7.7% (Sept. 2002) |
Annual Average | ||
| 7.6% | 7.2% | 6.8% | |||||
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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