Employment in April decreased by 19,700 from March. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.8%. Construction employment was down 2.0% from March while manufacturing employment grew by 0.6% from a month earlier.
In April, employment stood at 17.9 million, up 0.8% from April 2014. Full-time employment grew by 46,900 from March, while part-time employment decreased by 66,500 from the previous month. Full-time employment was up by 165,800 from April 2014, while part-time dropped by 26,600 over the same period.
Employment over the past year grew in seven provinces. Manitoba (+2.9%), Alberta (+2.4%) and Quebec (+1.7%) led the way. The employment growth rate in Ontario was +0.2%. Employment from a year earlier was down most in British Columbia (-0.8%), followed by Nova Scotia (-0.7%) and ( Newfoundland and Labrador (-0.6%).
Total employment gains of 11,500 have occurred in Ontario since April 2014. Its unemployment rate was 6.8% in April, down from 6.9% in March. Quebec’s total employment increase since April 2014 was 68,700. Its unemployment rate in April was 7.4%, down from 7.5% in March.
Since April 2014, employment in the goods-producing sector was down 0.7% and in the services-producing sector grew by 1.2%.
The construction industry lost 28,400 jobs in April over March bringing total construction employment to 1,368,200, which is an increase of 19,900 construction job (+1.5%) from April 2014. Total manufacturing employment was up 10,400 from March to 1,698,700 jobs. That was a loss of 12,900 positions (-0.8%) since April 2014.
The number of people working in retail and wholesale trade was down 20,500 in April from March and totaled 2,723,000. That was a loss of 0.1% from April 2014.
Employment among adult women, aged 25 and over, was up 42,400 in April 2015 over April 2014 but decreased by 7,000 from March. Their unemployment rate was 5.3%. Employment among adult men was up 77,500 in April 2015 over April 2014 and grew by 600 from March. Their unemployment rate was 6.0%. Employment among youths (15-24 years of age) was up by 19,300 since April 2014, but fell by 13,200 from March. Their unemployment rate was 13.6%.
In April, private sector employment was up 24,200 from March and grew by 75,300 from April 2014. Self-employment fell by 24,100 in April over March, but increased 300 from April 2014. Public sector employment was down 0.6% in April from March but grew by 1.8% from March 2014. Total private sector employment in April was 11,580,500; self-employment was 2,728,800; and public sector employment was 3,585,600.