Canadian economy loses 2,800 jobs in February

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Another month of fiscal conservatism and economic prosperity.

Thanks jebus we're axing student employment centers and keeping corporate tax cuts!!


Canadian economy sheds 2,800 jobs in February

Canadians continued to find work hard to come by in February as 2,800 jobs were lost across the country.

A consensus of economic forecasts had predicted overall growth of at least 15,000 new jobs in the month, with the jobless rate staying steady at 7.6 per cent.

The number of Canadians looking for employment fell by nearly 38,000, all of whom were in Ontario. The drop in the participation rate — the percentage of people with jobs or looking for work — led to a decline in the unemployment rate, hiding an otherwise weak month for job creation.

Of the 38,000 who stopped looking for work, the majority were under the age of 25.

Employment among people aged 15 to 24 fell for the fifth month in a row, putting their unemployment rate at 14.7 per cent. As well, the participation rate among young people has fallen to 63.3 per cent from 68.1 per cent in September 2008.

A report from TD Economics released Thursday highlighted the trouble for youths seeking jobs, calling the recovery since the recession for them "non-existent".

BMO deputy chief economist Doug Porter says while this latest jobs report isn't as bad as it looks, it does show underlying weakness in the economy.

"Just as the U.S. labour market finally appears to be turning the corner, Canada’s job market finds itself in a funk," he said in an email. "While this report isn’t as ugly as the headline dip in employment, the main message is that the domestic economy is now clearly struggling to post meaningful growth."

The job market seemed to be working for older job-hunters, but less so for younger ones. Among people 55 and over, employment rose by 24,000, mainly among men, Statistics Canada said. "Over the past 12 months, employment for this age group has grown 4.0 per cent, the highest rate of growth among all demographic groups."

"Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of full-time workers was up 1.5 per cent (204,000), while part-time employment declined 2.5 per cent (83,000)," Statistics Canada said in its release Friday morning.

United Steelworkers economist Erin Weir said that the weaker job market comes at a precarious time for governments.

"This labour force exodus comes as federal and provincial governments are finalizing their budgets," he said in a statement,

"The priority should be to create jobs through public investment and ensure adequate benefits for workers unemployed through no fault of their own."

Statistics Canada reported declines in retail and wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, health care and social assistance, and public administration.

Those were offset by increases in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, educational services, and business, building and other support services, the agency said.

Later in the morning, the United States reported that the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs, beating expectations, as the unemployment rate stayed flat at 8.3 per cent due to encouraged workers rejoining the work force.

Canadian economy sheds 2,800 jobs in February - Canada - CBC News
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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10,556 jobs posted in Saskatchewan today



Captain morgan doesn't like Saskatchewan.
 

damngrumpy

Executive Branch Member
Mar 16, 2005
9,949
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kelowna bc
The fact is we are living in the eye of a hurricane and we are not sure which way the wind will blow.
Either the Europeans will find a measure of success that works or we are going to see the other
half of 2008 coming right at us. All of the financial tinkering will have gone through the system by
late November or early December and that is when we will know if we have a sluggish economy or
a return to severe recession or worse.
China has just announced a slowing of its economy and that usually gives an indication of some of
the consumer trends. Remember, May is the tell tale sign month, if China is back in business full
tilt that is one thing but should they still forecast a downward trend it could be ugly. May is the month
that those Christmas purchase orders are in full swing for putting on the shelves to tempt you and I
with sales and Christmas songs.
I am not surprised the economy sputtered, we are following the path of the Great Depression actually.
1929 it fell apart, came back with up and down trends, sputtered end of 1933 and 34 went in the tank
I don't see us out of the woods yet, which means Harper didn't save us from anything but he will get
the blame if it goes to hell in a hand basket.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
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BC gained 9100 jobs last month.
Loosing jobs must be an Ontario thing. Just wait until Harper gets serious about shedding redundant bureaucraps. Then Ontario's unemployment rate will really climb.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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BC gained 9100 jobs last month.
Loosing jobs must be an Ontario thing. Just wait until Harper gets serious about shedding redundant bureaucraps. Then Ontario's unemployment rate will really climb.
Ontario has been gaining jobs...the major losses this year have been in Quebec, and last month in New Brunswick.
The Daily, Friday, March 9, 2012. Labour Force Survey
Employment in New Brunswick declined by 2,600 in February, pushing the unemployment rate up 0.6 percentage points to 10.1%. As a result of this decline, employment in the province was similar to its level of 12 months earlier.

While employment in Ontario was little changed in February, the unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 7.6%, the result of a decline in the number of people seeking work. Over the past 12 months, employment in Ontario has risen 0.8% (+54,000), with the growth occurring entirely in the first half of the period.

Employment in Quebec was unchanged in February, as was the unemployment rate, which stood at 8.4%. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment in the province was down 1.2% (-49,000).

The number of people working in Alberta was little changed in February, and the unemployment rate was 5.0%, one of the lowest in the country. Over the past 12 months, employment in the province was up 2.8% (+58,000), the highest growth rate of all provinces.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Don't worry Tonn - those corporate tax cuts are going to pay off any day now.
 

Liberalman

Senate Member
Mar 18, 2007
5,623
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Toronto
Redneck or wheathead, that's where the jobs are so as one prominent Prime Minister said many years ago “Go West” Alberta and Saskatchewan, is where the jobs are these days.

The Alberta business associations are pressuring the federal government to open up immigration because they have a severe labour shortage and a lot of businesses cannot reach their full potential.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
23,125
7,989
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Redneck or wheathead, that's where the jobs are so as one prominent Prime Minister said many years ago “Go West” Alberta and Saskatchewan, is where the jobs are these days.

The Alberta business associations are pressuring the federal government to open up immigration because they have a severe labour shortage and a lot of businesses cannot reach their full potential.


Western Canadian employers court the Irish - The Globe and Mail

I know that if we had more employee's....Our Crusher would be running
24hrs/day instead of just the 12hrs/day in one shift that it currently does.


 
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Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Don't worry Tonn - those corporate tax cuts are going to pay off any day now.

Though I'm opposed to corporate tax cuts for various reasons, job cretion is not one of them. Corporate tax cuts, if they don't create jobs under current circumstances, will at least curb job losses (i.e. it would be even worse otherwise).

However, there are other strategies that could help too such as lowering the minimum wage, promoting freer labour-movement agreements between countries and also more collaboration between provincial ministries of education to establish common trades and professional standards so as to increase labour mobility within Canada too.
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Use your green taxes for welfare, that way it has a real purpose.

Welfare is a hand out. Any money spent on the poor ought to be a hand up, not hand out. train them for all the jobs in demand. That would make more sense.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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They have to want to work and sometimes the transition from welfare to work isn't to the welfare recipients benefit.
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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sometimes the transition from welfare to work isn't to the welfare recipients benefit.

Of course there may be cases where the welfare recipient, owing to psychiatric or other condition, need to be cut some slack for a while to recoup. As for the rest though, we give them the choice: work or study for work! take it or leave it.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
109,295
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Disabled aside, there is more than meets the eye in gaining employment. The amount of people who go from "welfare" to "income supplement" which is just welfare for the under-employed and unde-paid is alarming. The stats may change but for the gov but the situation of the person who went from welfare to work didn't improve.
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Disabled aside, there is more than meets the eye in gaining employment. The amount of people who go from "welfare" to "income supplement" which is just welfare for the under-employed and unde-paid is alarming.

Certainly. And I'm all for prividing them with the education for necessary qualifications for the jobs that are out there. Clearly from the posts above, jobs abound, so beyond educating the under-employed and have ministries of education standardize qualificaitons nation-wide, what more should we really need to do other than eliminate the minimum-wage?
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Just because someone is given an education doesn't mean they will ever get a job they apply for.

According to the posts above, jobs abound. Maybe some kind of central job bank might help too as a central hub to network job seekers and employers. But it would seem if job shortages are that bad in some industries, a simple qualificaiton ought to be enough, along with ensuring that these qualifications are recognized in other jurisdictions and just for good measure establish labour-movement agreements with other countries to expand job opportunities to an even wider area.

Clearly the jobs are there. What other help might they need?

Again, I'm not talking about the one suffering from a recent mental breakdown who needs to be cut some slack for a few weeks or a month. For the rest, what more help do they really need?