Economy adds 58,200 jobs, but labour force rise pushes jobless rate to 7.3%
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says the economy surprised again in April, creating 58,200 new jobs as employment rose in most goods-producing industries and in most provinces.
Still, the unemployment rate edged up one-tenth of a point to 7.3 per cent, but that was because even more people were looking for work last month.
The big gains, following a stunning 82,000 increase in jobs in March, changes the picture for Canada's labour market, which until two months ago had been mostly stagnant since the summer.
The details in the April jobs report were even stronger than the headline, with all the new workers coming in the employee category rather than self-employment. They were also mostly in the private sector and mostly full time.
The agency says employment rose in manufacturing, construction, natural resources and agriculture, as well as the education sector. And, unlike in March, when most of the new jobs were concentrated in Central Canada, this time the winners included the Atlantic region, Quebec and the West.
The April gains brought the number of jobs created over the past year to 214,000, all in the full-time work category
----------------------------------------------------
No conflict of interest here!!! Is there.
----------------------------------------------------
Statistics Canada, the national statistics agency, informed its staff late last week that it has been ordered to chop $33.9-million from its planned spending by April 1, 2014.
That’s a cut of roughly 7.5 per cent when compared to Statscan’s estimated budgetary spending for 2012-13, which was previously pegged at $454.7-million.
“This reduction will be implemented progressively, beginning with $8.3-million on April 1, 2012, rising to $18.3-million on April 1, 2013, in order to achieve the full reduction by April 1, 2014,” chief statistician Wayne Smith wrote employees last week in a memo.
Mr. Smith acknowledged this will mean job cuts at Statscan – an abandonment of the agency’s no-layoff policy.
“The actions to be taken involve a mixture of new efficiency measures and program reductions. Achieving the required savings will necessarily mean a reduction in Statistics Canada’s work force.”
Mr. Corbett, whose union represents more than 57,000 professionals and scientists in the public service, is warning Ottawa against cutting staff in the safety and security fields, such as food inspectors, scientists and financial auditors.
His union will be documenting what services Canadians will lose through the cuts at the website safetyeh.ca.
One cabinet minister suggested last Friday that the cuts will be more spread out across Canada than previously thought. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told a business audience that of the 12,200 job reductions, only 4,800 will occur in the Ottawa area. The Ottawa-area minister said these would be spread out over three years.
