Canadian job market 2012

Canadian job market 2012

• The Canadian job market ended 2012 with a bang, as it created 39,800 net new positions in December.  The monthly report card was a whopping eight times what the market had been expecting.  If we broaden the period of interest to the fourth quarter, the Canadian economy churned out 100,800 new jobs.  For 2012, as a whole, the economy created roughly 17,000 new positions per month.
• The national unemployment rate inched down 0.1 percentage points to 7.1% in December.  This is the lowest rate seen in four years.  The jobless rate hovered around the low-7% range for much of the year.  Not surprisingly then, the average annual unemployment rate clocked in at 7.3% for 2012.
• The underlying details of the employment report were positive all round.  All of the gains recorded in December were in full-time positions (+41,200).  Part-time (-1,400) and self-employment positions (-22,800), by contrast, experienced losses.  Private sector hiring (+59,400) also did much of the heavy lifting in the month.
• On an industrial basis, the transportation and warehousing sector gained 21,500 positions.  The construction sector was also up by 17,800.  Major sectors in the negative column were professional, scientific and technical services (-41,500) and public administration (-12,600).
• Average hourly wages grew by 2.4% in December on a year-over-year basis.  This pace is generally in line with inflation.  Better average wage gains were recorded in 2012 as a whole (2.9%) versus 2011 (2.0%).
• At the provincial level, jobs gains were recorded in five provinces: Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.

Thanks to TD Economics for this report.

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