Labour Force Survey, February 2015, published March 13

Posted by on Mar 23, 2015 in Featured | Comments Off on Labour Force Survey, February 2015, published March 13

Employment in February was unchanged from January. The unemployment rate was 6.8%, up from 6.6% in January.  Construction employment was up 1.1% from January while manufacturing employment fell by 1.2% from a month earlier.

In February, employment stood at 17.9 million, up 0.7% from February 2014.  Full-time employment grew by 34,000 from January, while part-time employment decreased by 34,900 from the previous month.  Full-time employment was up by 121,100 from February 2014, while part-time grew by 8,900 over the same period.

Employment over the past year grew in six provinces.  Manitoba (+1.8%),  Alberta (+1.6%)  and  Quebec (+1.1%) led the way.  The employment growth rate in Ontario was  +0.6%.   Employment from a year earlier was down most in Newfoundland and Labrador (-2.9%) followed by New Brunswick (-1.3%) and Nova Scotia (-0,.4%).

Total employment gains of 39,000 have occurred in Ontario since February 2014.  Its unemployment rate was 6.9% in February, unchanged from January.  Quebec’s total employment increase since February 2014 was 44,400.  Its unemployment rate in February was 7.4%, unchanged from January.

Since February 2014, employment in the goods-producing sector was down 0.5% and in the services-producing sector grew by 1.1%.

The construction industry gained 15,500 jobs in February over January bringing total construction employment to 1,408,700, which is an increase of 56,100 construction job (+4.1%) from February 2014.  Total manufacturing employment was down 19,900 from January to 1,690,700 jobs.  That was a loss of 38,100 positions (-2.2%) since February 2014.

The number of people working in retail and wholesale trade was down 5,700 in February from January and totaled 2,723,700.  That was a loss of 0.2% from February 2014.

Employment among adult women, aged 25 and over, was up 10,500 in February 2015 over February 2014 and increased by 4,400 from January.  Their unemployment rate was 5.2%.  Employment among adult men was up 91,100 in February 2015 over February 2014 and grew by 2,000 from January.  Their unemployment rate was 6.2%.  Employment among youths (15-24 years of age) was up by 28,400 since February 2014, but fell by 7,200 from January.  Their unemployment rate was 13.3%.

In February, private sector employment was down 29,000 from January, but grew by 27,600 from February 2014.  Self-employment grew 3,600 in February over January, and increased 59,500 from February 2014.  Public sector employment was up 0.7% in February from January and grew by 1.2% from February 2014.  Total private sector employment in February was 11,537,000; self-employment was 2,769,900; and public sector employment was 3,579,000.