Ontario leads job growth in September

Most new jobs are part-time, more than 427,000 jobs created so far this year across Canada

Employment rose by 41,000 in September, all in part-time work and mainly in Ontario, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

Despite this gain, the unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 7.7 per cent as more people entered the labour market in search of work.

So far in 2002, employment has increased at a steady pace (up 2.8 per cent) with gains totaling 427,000 jobs. Over this nine-month period, full-time employment rose by 255,000 (up 2.1 per cent) and the number of workers employed part-time grew by 171,000 (up 6.2 per cent).

Youth employment

More youths are working part-time, as employment rose by 47,000. But full-time employment for young Canadians fell by 52,000. Despite little overall change in September, youth employment growth has been strong since the beginning of 2002 (up 3.3 per cent). The unemployment rate among youths edged down 0.1 percentage points in September to 13.7 per cent.

Increase in self-employment

Almost half of the 41,000 overall employment gain was among self-employed workers (up 19,000) and was concentrated in Ontario. Self-employment has strengthened since March, bringing gains so far this year to 92,000 (up 4 per cent). This improvement follows a two-year period of steady declines.

There were only slight gains in the number of private (up 9,000) and public (up 14,000) sector employees in September, but employment in the two sectors has risen by 208,000 (up 2.1 per cent) and 127,000 (up 4.5 per cent) respectively for the year so far.

Ontario leads the way

In September, employment rose by 32,000 in Ontario, following a strong August where 44,000 jobs were created. These gains are much stronger than the average monthly increase of 10,000 observed from January to July. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points in Ontario to 7.3 per cent as a result of more people entering the workforce.

The largest increases in Ontario were in education services and trucking. Although manufacturing employment changed little in September, it still accounts for more than half (up 86,000) of the province’s 149,000 jobs that have been created so far this year.

In Quebec, employment edged up 9,000 following declines totaling 21,000 for July and August. Overall, employment is up 3.3 per cent (116,000) so far this year because of strong growth in the first half of the year. Quebec’s unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 8.4 per cent in September.

In New Brunswick, employment gains of 5,000 were spread among several industries. This brought job gains so far this year to 11,000 (up 3.4 per cent). In September, the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 10.2 per cent.

Saskatchewan created 6,000 jobs, bringing gains over the first nine months of the year to 21,000 (up 4.5 per cent). The largest increase was in education services. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 5.5 per cent as more people entered the workforce.

In Alberta, employment fell by 13,000, with small declines in a number of industries. This leaves employment in the province up 2 per cent (33,000 jobs) above the level in December 2001. The unemployment rate increased 0.7 percentage points in September to 5.8 per cent.

Employment declined by 3,000 in Newfoundland and Labrador, mostly because of losses in the service-producing industries. The unemployment rate rose 1.1 percentage points to 16.8 per cent.

There was little change in employment in the other provinces.

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