Unemployment rate dips to 7.2% in March

After months of stagnant or even falling employment, Canada’s economy began churning out jobs again last month — and in a big way — adding 82,300 workers to the labour force.

The eye-popping gain, almost all in full-time work, was about eight times economists’ expectations and dropped the unemployment rate two notches to 7.2 per cent.

The report was unexpectedly positive and the Canadian dollar, which had been done before Statistics Canada released the number, jumped 0.29 cent to 100.65 cents US after the announcement.

Canada has not had a month of significant job gains since September, but that performance was largely due to make-up from summer losses in the education field. During that month, the jobless rate also hit 7.2 per cent, the lowest mark since the recession.

There may be more reason for optimism this time around that the monthly number will prove not to be an aberration.

The United States has experienced three consecutive months of 200,000-plus increases in employment and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney has begun citing “firmer” underlying conditions in Canada as a result of the U.S. improvement and abating fears over Europe’s debt problems.

As well, the details of the March report from Statistics Canada were almost as rosy as the headline number. Private sector gains outpaced the government sector two-to-one, and the weaker self-employment category only comprised about one-quarter of the new net jobs.

As well, the vast majority of the new jobs came in the regions where Canadians live, with Ontario picking up 46,000 and Quebec 36,000 — both provinces with struggling economies.

The new jobs were also broadly spread through industries.

There were significant increases in health care and social assistance, up 32,000; information, culture and recreation, an increase of 28,000; and public administration, 15,000.

Employment in the natural resources sector rose, and there were even modest gains in manufacturing and construction, two industries that have suffered recent set-backs.

The key outlier was education services, which dropped 25,000, reversing increases the past two months.

Another welcome change from recent trends was that employment for young workers, those in the 15-to-24 age category, rose sharply by about 39,000. That dropped the unemployment rate in the group by 0.8 points to 13.9 per cent.

Last month’s addition brings total net job creation to almost 200,000 over the past 12 months.

Regionally, all four Atlantic provinces and British Columbia had a decrease in employment in March, although the losses were relatively minor.

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