About a year after the downturn of the labour market, things are looking up.
“For the first five months, (the labour market) fell steeply,” said Vincent Ferrao, an analyst with the labour statistics division of Statistics Canada. “Since October 2008, there have been significant job losses. And for the first five months of the downturn, from November to March, there were steep declines in Canada at the national level.”
But the market, which has been in a downturn since October of last year, began to recover in June, he said.
“In the last five months, there were still declines, but they were much less pronounced. And in August, we saw an increase.”
Canadawide, employment went up in August from July, with 27,000 more people working in August than in July. In Ontario, there were 12,000 more people working in August compared to July.
The increase in Ottawa-Gatineau was “significant,” with 9,000 more people working in August than in July.
While there were declines in Ottawa-Gatineau, public administration has been holding its own, said Ferrao.
“That’s sort of helped Ottawa-Gatineau not to follow the national trend too much,” he said.
“While the latest GDP releases showed that there the economy has sort of stabilized … we haven’t recovered all the jobs lost since the beginning of the downturn,” Ferrao said.
Canadawide in August, the sectors that have seen the biggest increases include construction (up 12,000 jobs), resale and wholesale trade and sales jobs (up 21,000), finance insurance real estate and leasing (up 18,000), professional, scientific and technical services (up 10,000) and recreation and culture (up 9,000).
In Ontario, the sector that saw the biggest increases were construction and professional, scientific and technical services.
Still, there were some declines in August, hitting the areas of manufacturing, which fell by 9,000 jobs and educational services (down 24,000).
“In Ontario, the manufacturing sector was particularly hit during the downturn,” said Ferrao.
“If you look at the last five months with the focus on August, things are looking up,” he said. “But only time will tell if a trend is developing.”
