Finally some positive, albeit perhaps only slightly, news on the job front in Canada. The Globe & Mail recently reported Canada’s economy created nearly 80,000 jobs – the majority in the services sector.
The latest StatsCan numbers, for November of this year, indicate the private sector added 57,000 jobs, while the public sector added 54,000. Meantime, the number of self-employed jobs actually dropped 32,000.
So overall, there’s some improvement and some reason for optimism (at least when you consider where we were nearly a year ago). But the picture certainly isn’t ‘rosie’ yet. According to these latest stats, national employment is still down almost 2% from last year’s peak. That’s approximately 321,000 jobs. And economists are quick to point out that, “monthly numbers can swing wildly, particularly in education, where many of the gains were made.”
The biggest gains showed up in our more densely concentrated provincial populace, with Ontario and British Columbia leading the way and Quebec and Alberta following somewhat closely behind.
Also of note, it appears our U.S. counterparts have temporarily found a way to stop some of the bleeding, south of the border, as well. The article offers up numbers of a 10% drop in the unemployment rate for November, or 10,000 jobs lost. A far cry from the 125,000 jobs the U.S. feds had anticipated losing in November, and a sharp contrast to the nearly 600,000 jobs they were losing monthly earlier this year.
So we’re seeing signs that we may, and I use that word cautiously here, may be on our way out of the woods. But on both sides of the coin, I tend to agree with Mr. Lascelles’ statement which affirms the Bank of Canada, here, and the U.S. Federal Reserve likely won’t deviate from record-low borrowing costs – especially in the short-term. This type of stimulus is seen as far too valuable by each respective country’s central banks.
What do you think? Send me your comments.
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