In an economy that is still, quite obviously, recovering from the downturn in 2008 the unemployment rate across the country has proven to be a roller coaster of a ride.
Despite adding a reported 26,200 jobs in August the unemployment rate is still climbing to levels that have been seldom seen.
The boon in August was severally offset by the loss of over 31,000 jobs in July and the full number now hovers around 7% unemployment which is up from the 6.9% in July.
Expectations were that the strong showing in august and the expected gain of a further 15,000 jobs would have held the rate steady at 6.9% but this prediction unfortunately did not materialize.
Canada’s overall jobs picture has been quite volatile over the past year with quite a few more part time and temporary positions being added as opposed to full time positions with benefits and other incentives.
In the past 12 months there were only 77,400 new full time jobs created offset by losses in the same category of over 35,000.
The part time jobs added were significantly higher however, 113,100 part time gigs have been added to the job roster in the same time period.
This certainly highlights the trend of companies to hire only part time or temporary employees in order to avoid, as some suggest, paying out benefits and incentives that are traditionally given to full time employees.
The gains that were experienced in August notwithstanding the overall outlook are considered to be far below what expectations were based on the numbers from 2015.
The overall average in new job creation was around 13,000 per month in 2015 and the course for this year would be approximately 8000 jobs per month a disappointing reduction to be sure.
Statistics Canada indicated that the pain was being felt in every province with Quebec unemployment hovering around 7%, New Brunswick 9.4% and the lackluster Newfoundland moving slightly down from 12.8 to 12.3 with the addition of 4000 new jobs added in August.
The plan by the Trudeau administration to increase jobs with the capital expenditure program of rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure around the country has quite obviously not yet had the impact on the job market that the administration had hoped or expected.
It remains to be seen if going forward that plan will have the effect that Trudeau hopes in lifting the economy and creating more full time and sustainable jobs.
