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Friday, January 6, 2006 Labour Force SurveyDecember 2005In December, there was little overall change in employment as an increase of 36,000 full-time jobs was offset by part-time losses of 38,000. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 6.5% as more people entered the labour market in search of work. In 2005, employment rose 1.4% (+233,000), similar to the growth rate observed during the previous year. Full-time job growth finished the year up 2.0% while part-time employment remained weak (-1.0%). Total hours worked in the economy were up 1.3% in 2005. Average hourly wages in December were 3.8% higher than 12 months ago, while the most recent year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index for November was 2.0%. Alberta, with a very tight labour market and an unemployment rate of only 4.1%, saw the largest increase in average hourly wages, up 7.5% from December 2004.
The proportion of the working-age population who were employed (employment rate) in December was 62.7%. Throughout 2005, the employment rate remained near the record level of 62.8%, as the increase in employment in 2005 kept pace with population growth. Employment growth in 2005, combined with lower labour force participation, pushed the unemployment rate down 0.5 percentage points over the year. Towards the latter part of 2005, the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in over 30 years. Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing up in DecemberIn December, employment increased by 23,000 in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing. Despite this increase, employment in the industry showed little growth over the course of the year. Employment rose by 21,000 in professional, scientific and technical services, bringing gains for the year to 4.7%. Strength over the year was primarily driven by architectural, engineering and design services. Despite more people working in public administration in December (+11,000), employment in the industry is similar to the level at the end of 2004. There was also more employment in December in natural resources (+6,000), mostly in support activities for mining, oil and gas extraction. This brings year-to-date gains in natural resources to 11,000 (+3.7%), with the increase concentrated in Alberta. In December, there were employment losses in "other services" (-32,000), bringing declines over the year to 4.9%. Employment also fell in December in health care and social assistance (-24,000). Over 2005, there was added employment in hospitals but fewer people were working in social assistance as well as in nursing and residential care facilities. There were job losses in December in transportation and warehousing (-13,000), mostly in trucking. Even with this decline, employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 1.5% in 2005. More education jobs in 2005 and another strong year for constructionEducational services had the strongest employment growth in 2005, up 8.4% (+89,000). This increase was spread across a number of provinces. The strength in construction employment observed over the past few years continued in 2005 with an increase of 5.7% (+57,000). Added employment in the industry coincides with more non-residential building construction. In 2005, employment also increased in business, building and other support services (+5.0%), professional, scientific and technical services (+4.7%), and natural resources (+3.7%). There was also growth in Canada's largest industry, retail and wholesale trade (+3.5%). By the end of the year, an additional 88,000 people were working in this industry. For the third year in a row, the manufacturing sector turned in a lackluster performance with employment down 4.4% (-100,000) in 2005. Employment growth rate highest among self-employed in 2005Although little changed in December, self-employment increased by 3.6% (+88,000) compared to the start of 2005. About one-fifth of this increase was associated with construction and real estate. In December, the number of private sector employees fell by 31,000. However, employment among this group increased by 92,000 (+0.9%) in 2005. Public sector employment rose by 26,000 in December, and grew by 53,000 (+1.7%) in 2005 with strong increases in educational services followed by transportation. More adults working full time in 2005In December, there were 20,000 more adult men working full time, however, this was partly offset by fewer part-time jobs, leaving overall employment for this group up 13,000. The unemployment rate among men aged 25 and over edged down 0.1 percentage points to 5.4%. In 2005, employment was up 1.8% (+131,000), about the same growth rate as in the previous year. Nearly all of the gains in 2005 were in full-time employment. Among adult women, employment fell by 25,000 in December, with losses concentrated in part-time work. This leaves employment for adult women in 2005 up by 1.2% (+74,000), similar to the growth rate in 2004. All of the increase in 2005 was in full-time jobs. Their unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points in December to 5.5%. Although full-time employment among youths increased by 25,000 in December, this was largely offset by a decline in part-time jobs. With more youths in the labour force in search of work, their unemployment rate edged up 0.4 percentage points in December to 11.8%. In 2005, employment among youths rose by 1.1% (+28,000), slightly lower than the previous year. However, in the last quarter of 2005, the pace of employment growth for this group picked up. British Columbia led the nation in job growth in 2005Although employment in British Columbia was essentially unchanged in December, there was strong growth in 2005 (+3.8%) with gains in construction (+14.0%), trade (+13.3%), information, culture and recreation (+13.1%) as well as in educational services (+10.9%). The unemployment rate edged up 0.2 percentage points in December to 5.1% but still remained among the lowest in over three decades. In December, New Brunswick capped the year with an increase of 5,000 in employment, the second consecutive monthly increase. Despite more people working, the unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 9.6%, as there was a strong increase in labour force participation in December. The recent increase in jobs follows a period of losses in the first half of the year and left employment in the province up 0.9% in 2005. Full-time employment in December rose by 28,000 in Quebec, but this was partly offset by a loss of 18,000 part-time jobs. In 2005, employment rose by 1.4% with robust job growth in construction (+9.7%) and educational services (+5.9%). However, there were declines in manufacturing (-5.0%). The unemployment rate edged up 0.2 percentage points to 8.2% in December, as more people entered the labour force. In Ontario, employment fell by 18,000 in December, the result of fewer part-time jobs. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 6.2%. In 2005, employment grew by 1.2% with gains in a number of industries, most notably educational services (+13.3%), business, building and other support services (+8.8%) and construction (+6.4%) while manufacturing continued to shed jobs (-4.1%). Despite little change in December, employment in Alberta rose by 1.8% in 2005. Employment jumped in professional, scientific and technical services (+21.5%) in 2005. Employment also increased in educational services (+11.2%) over the same period. Natural resources continued to strengthen (+5.4%), the result of intense oil and gas activities. The unemployment rate closed the year at 4.1%, unchanged from November. In Newfoundland and Labrador, employment fell by an estimated 7,000 in December, more than offsetting the previous month's increase. This pushed the unemployment rate up 0.5 percentage points to 15.5%. The decline in December was spread across a number of industries. Employment growth within the province was weak over the course of 2005. There was little change in both employment and the unemployment rate in the other provinces. Available on CANSIM: tables 282-0001 to 282-0042, 282-0047 to 282-0064, 282-0069 to 282-0096 and 282-0098. Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3701. Available at 7:00 a.m. on Statistics Canada's Web site. From the home page, choose Today's news releases from The Daily, then Latest Labour Force Survey. A more detailed summary, Labour Force Information, is available today for the week ending December 10 (71-001-XIE, $9/$84). LAN and bulk prices are available on request. Data tables are also available in the Canadian Statistics module of our Web site. The next release of the Labour Force Survey will be on Friday, February 10. For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Vincent Ferrao (613-951-4750), Danielle Zietsma (613-951-4243) or Jeannine Usalcas (613-951-4720), Labour Statistics Division.
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