subject: Canada Shows Employment Gain & Strength In Economic Recovery [print this page] The largest ever recorded employment gain by Statistics Canada came from the 108,700 new jobs founded by Canadians last month; the largest percentage increases since August 2002. Statistics Canada found approximately 44,000 of those jobs was full-time in the private sector while the remaining 65,000 were part-time. Even though only half of the job gains in April were from full-time work, economists still feel that Canada's job market is in full recovery and are thus hopeful for the future.
Due to the fact more Canadians were looking for work in April, the unemployment rate for April was decreased only one-tenth of a point, to 8.1 per cent. To date, Canada has recovered 285,000 of its 387,000 jobs that were lost during the recession. This new data remains consistent with what economist had anticipated. The last quarter of 2009 saw Canada's economy advance approximately five per cent while the first quarter of 2010 has seen it advance about six percent.
Canada's largest employment increases were primarily among men aged 25 to 54 and youth between the ages of 15 to 24, with the service sector of retail and wholesale leading the way with an increase of 32,000 jobs while construction benefitted from 24,000 jobs. Information, culture and recreation pushed ahead with an additional 20,000 jobs and business building and support services gained 31,000 jobs. Youth employment rates grew by 23,000 in April. However manufacturing dropped 21,000 workers in April. Ironically, employed men aged 55 and over increased in April by 21,000.
Regionally, Ontario lead the way with 40,500 jobs, keeping the unemployment rate unchanged at 8.8 percent while the Quebec unemployment rate decreased slightly to 7.9 percent when it gained 35,000 jobs. British Columbia employed an additional 13,000 lowering their rate 0.6 percentage points to 7.3 percent. Albertians found an additional 10,000 jobs, keeping their numbers steady at 7.4 per cent however, it is the only province with no employment growth since July 2009. Manitoba faired out the best seeing 7,000 new jobs added to its statistics and pushing their unemployment rate down 0.3 per cent to 4.9 per cent, the lowest in the country.
For many Canadians, these new found jobs are encouraging and give hope for a bright financial future, but the good news may not have directly affected you or your financial situation. If you still find yourself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, a loan may help you bridge the gap to employment and offer some relief by helping you to consolidate debt. Debt consolidation will allow you to make your multiple bills into one, more easily managed monthly payment.
