Modest job creation in Canada in June
Canada created 7300 new jobs in June while the unemployment rate fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 7.2%, according to Statistics Canada. Nothing comparable with March and April during which 140,000 new jobs appeared.
For a second consecutive month, employment was little changed in June, according to the latest Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics Canada. The sign indicates that the Canadian economy has barely maintained the pace set earlier this year. However, against all expectations, the unemployment rate fell a tenth of a point to 7.2%. Another encouraging indicator is that full time work increased by 1.6% while part-time work was little changed.
In the public sector
services and other support services (+24,000), in health care and social assistance (+20,000) services and in education (+19,000) services the increases were more significant. Conversely, the information, culture and leisure (-31,000) sectors experienced a downturn, as with agriculture (-20,000).
Employment in general was little changed in the different Canadian provinces, except in Ontario, which saw an increase of 20,000 workers. After three months of growth, employment remained almost unchanged in Quebec. The unemployment rate amounted to 7.7% in June, down 0.1 points from the previous month.
Student employment down
June is also the opportunity to collect the first data on employment of students during the summer. The employment rate for young people aged 20 to 24 years fell to 63.2%, against 67.4% in 2011. The June 2012 rate was equivalent to that seen in June 2009 when students were strongly affected by the repercussions of the economic crisis. The rate of employment among 17-19 year olds also declined to reach 51.4%. This was a rate lower than in June 2009.