Employment in February was virtually unchanged from January. The unemployment rate was 7.0% also unchanged from January. Construction employment fell by 0.3% from January while manufacturing employment increased 0.3% from a month earlier
In February, employment stood at 17.8 million, up 0.5% from February 2013. Full-time employment grew by 18,900 from January, while part-time employment decreased by 25,900 from the previous month. Full-time employment was up by 69,600 from February 2013, while part-time increased by 25,100 over the same period.
Employment over the past year grew in three provinces: Alberta (+3.8), Saskatchewan (+0.9%) and Ontario (+0.4%). The employment growth rate in Quebec was -0.1%. Employment from a year earlier was down most in Prince Edward Island and Manitoba (-0.9%), followed by Nova Scotia (-0.8%).
Total employment gains of 28,700 have occurred in Ontario since February 2013. Its unemployment rate was 7.5% in February, unchanged from January. Quebec’s total employment decrease since February 2013 was 2,600. Its unemployment rate in February was 7.8%, up from 7.5% in January.
Since February 2013, employment in the goods-producing sector has increased by 1.2% and in the services-producing sector it has grown by 0.4%.
The construction industry lost 3,600 jobs in February over January, bringing total construction employment to 1,297,500, which is an decrease of 9,200 construction jobs (-0.7%) from February 2013.
Total manufacturing employment was up 5,000 from January to 1,743,700 jobs. That was a gain of 6,400 positions (+0.4%) since February 2013.
The number of people working in retail and wholesale trade was up 13,400 in February from January and totaled 2,700,l00. That was a loss of 0.1% from February 2013.
Employment among adult women, aged 25 and over, was up 68,400 in February 2014 over February 2013 and increased by 9,800 from January. Employment among adult men was up 62,700 in February 2014 over February 2013 but declined by 14,100 from January. Employment among youths (15-24 years of age) fell by 36,300 since February 2013, and was down by 2,700 from January.
In February, private sector employment was up 35,200 from January, and increased 1.1% from February 2013. Self-employment was up 0.3% in February over January, and also increased by 0.3% from February 2013. Public sector employment was down 1.4% in February from January and decreased 1.1% from February 2013. Total private sector employment in February was 11,499,000; self-employment was 2,705,100; and public sector employment was 3,586,300.