58,200 more jobs in Canada in April
After four uncertain months, employment is rising again, according to the Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics Canada. A positive sign that should not hide the slight increase in unemployment.
With 58,200 more jobs this month, employment has regained a rising trend in Canada. This is the second consecutive month marked by a significant increase after the 82,300 additional jobs recorded in March. This increase has not prevented unemployment from rising by 0.1 point to stand at 7.3%. 72,500 people have started or resumed looking for work during April.
The health goods sector
The growth in jobs was particularly pronounced in the goods sector: construction (+25,000), manufacturing (+24,000), natural resources (+11,000) and agriculture (+10,000). The service sector meanwhile has been marked by an increase in jobs in teaching (+17,000) and a decrease in public administration (-35,000).
Alberta continues to grow
Among the provinces, there were employment increases in most of them. In Quebec, it rose by 23,000 jobs during the month of April. However, there was little change over the same period in 2011 and unemployment reached 8%. The results were better in British Columbia. The province posted 20,000 more jobs and unemployment at 6.2%, a steady decline since February 2011. Alberta continues to grow. With 11,000 more jobs and unemployment at 4.9%, the province signalled the strongest employment growth over the last 12 months (+3.9%). To a lesser extent, jobs also increased in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ontario experienced little change and an increase of 0.4 percentage point in the unemployment rate (+7.8%).
Employment weaker among young people
Finally, while employment among 25-54 year olds and those over 55 years old increased, there was again little change among the youngest. With an unemployment rate of 13.9%, this age category does not lead to the same outcome as the previous generations. Young people aged 15 to 24 years were left with 17,200 fewer jobs compared to April 2011.