Employment in January was up 35,400 from December. The unemployment rate was 6.6%, down from 6.7% in December. Construction employment was up 0.3% from December while manufacturing employment grew by 0.6% from a month earlier.
In January, employment stood at 17.9 million, up 0.7% from January 2014. Full-time employment dropped by 11,800 from December, while part-time employment increased by 47,200 from the previous month. Full-time employment was up by 107,800 from January 2014, while part-time grew by 19,900 over the same period.
Employment over the past year grew in five provinces. Alberta (+3.0%), Manitoba (+1.6%) and Nova Scotia (+0.8%) led the way. The employment growth rate in Ontario was +0.6%. Employment from a year earlier was down most in Newfoundland and Labrador (-1.6%) followed by New Brunswick (-0.2%) and Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Quebec, all at -0.1%.
Total employment gains of 44,400 have occurred in Ontario since January 2014. Its unemployment rate was 6.9% in January, down from 7.0% in December. Quebec’s total employment decrease since January 2014 was 3,000. Its unemployment rate in January was 7.4%, down from 7.5% in December.
Since January 2014, employment in the goods-producing sector was unchanged and in the services-producing sector grew by 0.9%.
The construction industry gained 4,700 jobs in January over December bringing total construction employment to 1,393,200, which is an increase of 30,100 construction job (+2.2%) from January 2014. Total manufacturing employment was up 10,700 from December to 1,710,600 jobs. That was a loss of 17,900 positions (-1.0%) since January 2014.
The number of people working in retail and wholesale trade was down 4,200 in January from December and totaled 2,711,300. That was a loss of 9.7% from January 2014.
Employment among adult women, aged 25 and over, was up 18,100 in January 2015 over January 2014 and increased by 34,500 from December. Their unemployment rate was 5.2%. Employment among adult men was up 79,100 in January 2015 over January 2014 but dropped by 6,000 from December. Their unemployment rate was 5.8%. Employment among youths (15-24 years of age) was up by 30,300 since January 2014, and grew by 6,700 from December. Their unemployment rate was 12.8%.
In January, private sector employment was up 1,100 from December, and grew by 50,000 from January 2014. Self-employment grew 41,100 in January over December, and increased 58,800 from January 2014. Public sector employment was down 0.2% in January from December but grew by 0.5% from January 2014. Total private sector employment in January was 11,566,000; self-employment was 2,766,300; and public sector employment was 3,554,700.