Employment in March increased by 28,700 from February. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.8%. Construction employment was down 0.9% from February while manufacturing employment fell by 0.1% from a month earlier.
In March, employment stood at 17.9 million, up 0.8% from March 2014. Full-time employment fell by 28,200 from February, while part-time employment increased by 56,800 from the previous month. Full-time employment was up by 110,500 from March 2014, while part-time grew by 27,600 over the same period.
Employment over the past year grew in six provinces. Manitoba (+3.1%), Alberta (+1.9%) and Saskatchewan (+1.2%) led the way. The employment growth rate in Quebec was 0.8% while Ontario’s was +0.5%. Employment from a year earlier was down most in Newfoundland and Labrador (-2.6%) followed by New Brunswick (-1.2%).
Total employment gains of 37,000 have occurred in Ontario since March 2014. Its unemployment rate was 6.9% in March, unchanged from February. Quebec’s total employment increase since March 2014 was 31,300. Its unemployment rate in March was 7.5%, up from 7.4% in February.
Since March 2014, employment in the goods-producing sector was down 1.2% and in the services-producing sector grew by 1.3%.
The construction industry lost 12,100 jobs in March over February bringing total construction employment to 1,396,600, which is an increase of 16,200 construction job (+1.2%) from March 2014. Total manufacturing employment was down 2,400 from February to 1,688,300 jobs. That was a loss of 30,300 positions (-1.8%) since March 2014.
The number of people working in retail and wholesale trade was up 19,800 in March from February and totaled 2,743,500. That was a gain of 0.7% from March 2014.
Employment among adult women, aged 25 and over, was up 38,500 in March 2015 over March 2014 and increased by 22,300 from February. Their unemployment rate was 5.4%. Employment among adult men was up 76,300 in March 2015 over March 2014 but fell by 4,300 from February. Their unemployment rate was 6.0%. Employment among youths (15-24 years of age) was up by 23,300 since March 2014, and grew by 10,600 from February. Their unemployment rate was 13.0%.
In March, private sector employment was up 19,300 from February, and grew by 32,600 from March 2014. Self-employment fell by 17,000 in March over February, but increased 38,000 from March 2014. Public sector employment was up 0.7% in March from February and grew by 1.9% from March 2014. Total private sector employment in March was 11,556,300; self-employment was 2,752,900; and public sector employment was 3,605,500.