The Business and Community Newsletter – July 2023

Canada's population reaches 40 million

As of June 16, 2023, there are now 40 million Canadians! This is a historic milestone for Canada and certainly cause for celebration. It is also a great opportunity to look back on the country's growth over the years, and to reflect on the future. Check out this video.

Eh Sayers Podcast

Episode 1 - Will The 40 Millionth Canadian Please Stand Up?

Canada reached an important milestone June 16, 2023. For the first time, there were 40 million people living in Canada. That means that someone out there is the 40 millionth Canadian. But who is it?

Pride Season

Celebrate the diversity of our country during Pride Season, which takes place all summer from June to September. It's an opportunity to highlight the importance of inclusion, respect, and safe spaces where people with different sexual orientations or gender identities and expressions can be their most authentic selves.

Get involved, show your support and get informed!

There are many different ways to take part in Pride Season and to show your support.

This Pride Season, let's come together to celebrate Canada's diversity and show the world what makes our country strong.

Happy Pride Season!

StatsCAN Plus

Visit StatsCAN Plus for the most recent data stories:

• Private short-term rentals over doubled its market share in the accommodation services subsector from 2017 to 2021
• Almost three in four Canadians have a strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada
• More delicious fresh fruit and veggies published with the new Consumer Price Index basket, less old stuff included

Consumer Price Index, May 2023

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.4% year over year in May, following a 4.4% increase in April. This is the smallest increase since June 2021. The slowdown was largely driven by lower year-over-year prices for gasoline (-18.3%) resulting from a base-year effect. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 4.4% in May following a 4.9% increase in April.

The mortgage interest cost index (+29.9%) remained the largest contributor to the year-over-year CPI increase. Excluding mortgage interest cost, the CPI rose 2.5% in May, following a 3.7% increase in April.

On a monthly basis, the CPI was up 0.4% in May, following a 0.7% gain in April. The largest contributors to the month-over-month increase were mortgage interest costs and travel services, which includes traveller accommodation and travel tours. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1%.

Labour Force Survey June 2023

Employment increased by 60,000 (+0.3%) in June, driven by gains in full-time work (+110,000; +0.7%).

The unemployment rate rose to 5.4% (+0.2 percentage points), as more people searched for work.

Employment gains in June were concentrated among young men aged 15 to 24 (+31,000) and men aged 25 to 54 (+31,000). Employment among women of all age groups was little changed in June.

Employment increased in Ontario (+56,000), Nova Scotia (+3,600), and Newfoundland and Labrador (+2,300) in June, while it declined in Prince Edward Island (-2,400). There was little variation in the other provinces.

Employment rose in wholesale and retail trade (+33,000), manufacturing (+27,000), health care and social assistance (+21,000) and transportation and warehousing (+10,000). Meanwhile, declines were recorded in construction (-14,000), educational services (-14,000) and agriculture (-6,000).

Average hourly wages rose 4.2% (+$1.32 to $33.12) on a year-over-year basis in June, following an increase of 5.1% in May (not seasonally adjusted).

Total hours worked were virtually unchanged in June and were up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Economic and Social Reports, June 2023

Labour market insights from the new Canadian Economic Tracker

The Canadian Economic Tracker, released on May 16, 2023, is a new data visualization tool combining selected monthly indicators of economic activity from Statistics Canada's Common Output Database Repository (CODR) into a unified, customizable interface. A new series of articles will use the tracker to explore and interpret the trends and dynamics affecting Canadians as economic activity continues to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first in the series, "Labour market imbalances: Evidence from the Canadian Economic Tracker," gleaned insights on the labour market from the indicators in the tracker. It found that labour market imbalances persist but vary across industries. For instance, unmet labour demand has eased in accommodation and food services, and manufacturing. However, there has been little sign of vacancies easing in health care and social assistance.

Immigrants' sense of belonging to Canada strongest in Atlantic provinces and Ontario

Immigrants' sense of belonging to Canada is a well-documented measure of their social integration, however, it differs by sociodemographic characteristics such as years since immigration, age at immigration, admission category and population group. The study "Immigrants' sense of belonging to Canada by province of residence" finds that sense of belonging also varies modestly by province of residence. Generally, sense of belonging to Canada was strongest among immigrants living in Atlantic Canada and Ontario, and weakest among immigrants in British Columbia and Alberta.

The difference in sense of belonging between immigrants in Alberta and Ontario was attributable to the sociodemographic composition of Alberta's immigrant population (characteristics such as years since landing, population group, age group and education), perceptions of discrimination and differences in structural conditions (unemployment rates, median income and size of the immigrant population) between Alberta and Ontario. These factors did not explain the difference between immigrants in Ontario and British Columbia.

Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, April 2023

Payroll employment in retail trade drops for the second consecutive month

In retail trade, five of the nine subsectors recorded national declines in payroll employment in April. These decreases were led by building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-4,400; -3.1%), food and beverage retailers (-2,100; -0.4%), and furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers (-1,700; -1.5%). Health and personal care retailers (+1,300; +0.6%) was the sole subsector to record an increase. The remaining three subsectors were little changed.

First decline in payroll employment in accommodation and food services in six months

Payroll employment in accommodation and food services declined by 7,000 (-0.5%) in April, following an increase of 1,100 (+0.1%) in March. The decline in April was the first recorded decrease in the sector since October 2022. The decrease in April 2023 was observed in three industries, driven by full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places (-8,200; -0.8%). This was partially offset by an increase in traveller accommodation (+2,000; +1.2%).

Payroll employment in construction increases in April

In April, payroll employment in construction increased by 3,700 (+0.3%), following a decline of 3,700 (-0.3%) in March and an increase of 10,600 (+0.9%) in February. Within the sector, specialty trade contractors (+2,200; +0.3%) and heavy and civil engineering construction (+1,500; +0.8%) recorded the largest monthly gains. Within heavy and civil engineering construction, payroll employment increased by 5,200 (+2.8%) from January to April 2023, largely due to gains in utility system construction (+5,400; +6.9%).

By the Numbers - National Indigenous History Month

June was National Indigenous History Month. This is an opportunity to acknowledge and honour the history, culture and resilience of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. We all have a role to play in Reconciliation and we can all do our part.

Our colleagues at Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada have provided learning resources for you to explore.

Check out these different themes:

• June 19—25: Languages, cultures and arts
• June 26—30: Reconciliation

Indigenous Population Profile, 2021

This product presents information from the Census of Population focusing on the Indigenous identity population and Indigenous households of various geographic areas. These geographic areas include: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, census divisions, census subdivisions, Métis settlements, Inuit regions, and First Nation or Indian band and Tribal Council areas. Data are available for the Indigenous identity population by age groups and gender for selected socio-demographic characteristics.

Centre for Municipal and Local Data

As part of an ongoing partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and in the context of the Disaggregated Data Action Plan, Statistics Canada is bringing data to municipalities. Functions of the Centre for Municipal and Local Data include: a data catalogue for access to data pertinent to municipalities, such as the integration of census data, as well as statistics on housing, health, crime, and more; an experimental municipal finance dashboard, which currently allows comparisons across select Canadian municipalities on standard financial indicators, including those relating to infrastructure spending; and a mapping function, which displays a set of key indicators geographically and through data visualisations.

Together, let's continue to Think Local!