Canadian Employment Up in June

Canadian companies continued to hire throughout the month of June, despite indicators of a decelerating economy. In a CIBC Economic report released today showed that although April and May were also big job gain months, June offered Canadians an additional 28 thousand jobs.

The new job gains didn’t push down the unemployment rate unfortunately. The rate, held at 7.4 per cent, is still a good sign as it did not change from May and if employment growth continues, should continue to diminish.

Of the jobs created, only 7 thousand were full time employment. CIBC’s Employment Quality Index saw employment quality take a slight hit in June as 21 thousand are categorized as part time jobs.

SEE RELATED STORIES FROM THE WDM CONTENT NETWORK:

• Canadian Household Debt Reaches Record High
• Canadian Unemployment Lowest in Two Years

Click here to read the latest issue of Business Review Canada

Another interesting fact CIBC report found was in the self-employment sector. Many self-employed workers closed  in June pulling the entire category down about  44 thousand, the first downward turn for the sector this year. Fortunately employment continued to rise as both governments and the private sector’s hiring spree offset the difference. Of new employment opportunities, CIBC was surprised at the 51 thousand gain from the public sector.

Jobs created were largely from the services-producing sector, with transportation and warehousing/finance, insurance and real estate leading the new job creation. Retail/wholesale was down in June speculated to be because of the sector’s poor performance.

Provinces that led the job creation were Ontario and Alberta, accounting for nearly all gains. Overall, Alberta’s employment gains have been outpacing the nation pacing at 3.5 per cent above the national average.