Labour
Force Survey
Following gains at the beginning of 2008, and
little change from April to June, employment dropped by 55,000 in July. The
unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.1%, as many people,
particularly youth, left the labour force.
While employment grew
by 1.3% over the last 12 months (+227,000), the pace of growth has slowed in
recent months. Employment gains have averaged 10,000 per month thus far
in 2008 compared with an average monthly gain of 30,000 for 2007.
Most of the employment
losses in July were in part time, down 48,000. Over the last 12 months, however,
part-time employment has grown by 3.5%, much faster than the 0.9% growth in full
time.
Employment decreases in
July occurred in manufacturing; business, building and other support services;
and educational services. The only significant gains were in accommodation and
food services.
Losses for the month were
notable for private sector employees, while the public sector saw some gains.
Since July 2007, employment in the public sector has grown by 6.1%, compared
with 0.5% for the private sector.
July's employment losses
occurred in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island.
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