Number of Jobs in Canada Grows by 19,000 (vs -20,000 in the U.S.)
Statistics Canada released its latest labour force numbers today, for April 2008. Month to month, the number of jobs in the country increased by 19,000. This can be characterized as a holding pattern. The long-term average increase in the number of jobs, from one month to the next, is 17,000.

Canada’s employment numbers have been released a week later than the U.S. figures, this time around. In most months, the U.S. and Canadian results are revealed on the same Friday. It is interesting to note that whereas Canada gained 19,000 jobs in April, the U.S. lost almost exactly the same number (-20,000).

Unemployment Rate now 6.1%
The unemployment rate in Canada has been creeping up slightly. It now stands at 6.1%, which is still indicative of a tight labour market. The unemployment rate in the U.S. is 5.0%, but that is up from a figure in the low 4% range about a year ago. The U.S. is more vigorous in recording who among the unemployed is looking hard for a job.

Construction Job Growth an Incredible +10.4%

The Canadian employment numbers are still quite encouraging. Year-over-year job growth is +2.0%, which is right in line with earlier phases in this cycle. Construction job growth (+10.4%) is incredibly strong, the highest it has been in this cycle. However, a certain lag factor comes into play here.

Construction starts have been high in both residential and non-residential markets over at least the last two years. This has translated into strong job-site activity levels (which also means strong employment) right now and extending out through at least the end of this year.

What is not so clear is whether construction starts will remain as strong as they have been. Housing starts, as reported by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) sank in April and first-quarter non-residential starts as calculated by CanaData were disappointingly weak. Reed Construction Data expects that housing starts have commenced a significant downward slide and that non-residential construction starts are also vulnerable to some cyclical adjustment.

Manufacturing Jobs -5.5%
Manufacturing jobs continue to hover around -5.5% on a year-over-year basis, as the high-valued Canadian dollar holds back a significant number of export sales to the United States. The news about full-time employment continues to be positive (+2.3%), but part-time (+0.7%) work has eased on down. In the grand scheme of things, full-time employment is viewed as better for the economy, in that it is usually higher paying and more stable.

With respect to the public sector versus the private sector, the former is recording +6.0% year-over-year job growth. Money has been flowing in to government from tax revenue and, so far, hiring departments (despite the budget pronouncements of Finance Ministers) have not been worrying much about any downturn. The private sector (+1.1%), on the other hand, is clearly acting more cautiously with respect to new hires.

West (+3.1%) Still Outperforming the East (+1.6%)
Regionally, the West continues to out-employ the East and by a quite significant margin. Job growth from the Manitoba-Ontario border to the Pacific Ocean has been +3.1%, which is just about double the rate of growth from the same border to the Atlantic Ocean (+1.6%).

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