Alberta recorded largest provincial losses of 16,000
The Canadian economy shed 71,000 full-time jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate up to 6.6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
Alberta led the provinces with 16,000 job losses, all full-time, showing the effects of the decline in commodity prices and a cooling in the hot Western market. The province's employment growth slowed to 1.3 per cent in 2008, a significant decline from growth of more than four per cent in 2006 and 2007.
Despite the drop in employment pushing up Alberta's unemployment rate 0.7 percentage points, at 4.1 per cent, the province's rate is still the lowest in the country.
Gains in part-time employment, with about 36,000 jobs nationally, partially off-set some of the losses in full-time employment, resulting in a net loss of 34,000 jobs and marking the second consecutive month of net job losses since the beginning of the economic crisis early last fall.
The Canadian unemployment rate hit a record low of 5.8 per cent in early 2008, but that number steadily increased in the last quarter of the year, hitting 6.3 per cent in November and 6.6 per cent in December.
December's employment decline was largely driven by a drop in construction, one of the largest monthly losses for that industry in more than three decades. The industry lost 44,000 jobs in December but construction employment remained 4.7 per cent higher than at the start of the year due to growth in the first nine months of 2008.
In December, employment declined for youth aged 15 to 24 (a loss of 37,000 jobs) and men aged 25 to 54 (a loss of 28,000 jobs) while increasing among those aged 55 and over (a gain of 28,000 jobs).
The unemployment rate for youth increased by 0.6 percentage points in December to 12.9 per cent. For the whole year, the youth unemployment rate increased by 1.8 percentage points, more than any other demographic group.
Workers aged 55 and over, on the other hand, posted an employment increase of 4.2 per cent over the year. Despite this employment increase, their unemployment rate rose in 2008, from 4.7 per cent to 5.6 per cent, the result of an increase in the number of people looking for work.
