Unemployment in Canada increases with addition of jobs in March

​#StatisticsCanada, #unemployment, #DouglasPorter, #AveryShenfeld, #Alberta, #NovaScotia, #Manitoba, #Saskatchewan, #Canada
​
Addition of 19,400 jobs in March led jobless rate to increase from 6.6 percent to 6.7 percent last month, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Canada's unemployment rate had fallen in February to its lowest level since October 2008, CBCNews reports said.

Demographically employment increased in March for men aged 25 to 54 and remained unchanged in women aged 25 to 54 and employment among men and women aged 55 and older showed a downward trend in March, Statics Canada report said.

Statistics Canada reported of an increase in employment in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, but a decline in Saskatchewan, while remaining provinces showed stability in employment.

According to Statics Canada more people were employed in manufacturing; business, building and other support services; wholesale and retail trade; and information, culture and recreation. On the other hand, educational services; transportation and warehousing; and public administration recorded a decline.

Manufacturing employment which fell in 2016 saw a big increase by 24,400 positions in March, the largest one-month increase in manufacturing since August 2002.

In spite of this spike, Canadian employment in manufacturing had declined by about 27 percent since a peak in the early 2000s.

Although Alberta added about 20,000 full-time positions in March, the province's unemployment rate declined from nine percent in November 2016 – due to slump in commodity prices -- to 8.4 percent.

"While the details of the release were mixed, we would still rate this report as solid and very much in keeping with the broader trend of an economy on the rebound," wrote BMO chief economist Douglas Porter in a commentary, CBCNews reports said.

The mixed details to which Porter referred included weakness in wage growth, which only increased 1.1 percent on an annual basis.

Statistics Canada attributed the overall gains in employment to an increase in self-employment, which increased by a net 18,400 positions on a monthly basis.

Statistics Canada's definition of self-employment included unpaid workers for family businesses.
"Typically we actually prefer to see employers hire, rather than people declaring themselves to be self-employed," CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld told CBC News. 

"But if you actually looked at the hiring numbers, it was the public sector that was shedding some jobs. The private sector was still showing a lot of optimism. So we're encouraged by that, " CBCNews reports said.
 
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

---