Employment continued to show little change in March as an increase of 34,000 part-time jobs was offset by a similar decline in the number of people working full-time. With fewer people looking for work, the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.9%.

Over the first three months of 2005, employment is up by only 0.2% (+25,000), a growth rate similar to that in the United States. The number of hours worked was unchanged in March and has edged up 0.2% so far this year.

Sectors with the strongest employment growth in the first quarter of 2005 include retail and wholesale trade, educational services as well as finance, insurance, real estate and leasing. In contrast, the most pronounced employment losses have occurred in accommodation and food services and in manufacturing.

The only provinces with employment growth rates above the national average of 0.2% over the first three months of this year are Alberta (+0.8%), British Columbia (+0.6%) and Saskatchewan (+0.6%).

More adult men working but fewer youths

Among men aged 25 and over, employment increased by 21,000 in March, almost all part-time. There was little change among adult women as a gain in part-time jobs was offset by a similar decline in full-time work. In March, there were 21,000 fewer youths working.

Over the first quarter of 2005, job growth among adult men and women was a modest 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively. The increases were mostly in part-time jobs. For youths, employment declined by 1.3% over the first three months of the year, all in full-time. Weakness in youth employment over this period has been in retail trade and accommodation and food services.

Weakness in accommodation and food services

There were job losses for the second consecutive month in accommodation and food services, down 18,000 in March and 20,000 in February. All of these declines occurred in food and beverage services. Compared to a year ago, employment and hours worked have declined in parts of this sector, notably in taverns and bars, possibly due to the National Hockey League lockout.

In March, employment fell by 15,000 in professional, scientific and technical services, mostly in computer system design. Despite the decline in March, employment in the sector is up 1.6% from 12 months ago.

There were job losses of 14,000 in transportation and warehousing in March, with drops in scenic and sight-seeing as well as air transportation. The decline this month continues the employment weakness observed in this sector since July of last year.

In March, there were 11,000 more people working in public administration, offsetting losses observed at the start of the year. The increase in March was mainly in Quebec at the municipal level.

Employment rose by 8,000 in agriculture, the second consecutive monthly gain. The bulk of the increase in March occurred in Quebec and Ontario. Despite this increase, agricultural employment at the national level is at about the same level as a year ago.

Provincial focus

In March, most provinces experienced little change in both employment and unemployment.

There were 3,000 more people working in Newfoundland and Labrador in March with gains in natural resources and public administration. Despite this increase, employment in the province is unchanged from the level of a year ago.

The number of people working in Manitoba fell by an estimated 6,000 following a gain of 3,000 in February. This leaves employment in the province up by 0.8% (+4,000) from a year ago. Declines this month occurred in construction, agriculture and other services such as personal care.

Employment was little changed in both Alberta and British Columbia, however, there were significant declines in their unemployment rates.

In Alberta, the unemployment rate fell to a 24-year low with a decline of 0.7 percentage points in March to 3.5%, mainly the result of fewer people looking for work. Along with this low unemployment rate, the proportion of the employed working-age population in March (70.2%) remains near the historic high.

In British Columbia, a decline in the number of people looking for work also pushed the unemployment rate down in March, falling 0.5 percentage points to 6.5%. The unemployment rate in March is among the lowest in two decades.

In March, employment was little changed in Ontario as an increase of 38,000 part-time jobs was offset by a decline of 31,000 in full-time work. This leaves employment in the province up 80,000 (+1.3%) from a year ago. While there were employment losses across a number of sectors in March, there were significant gains in construction and information, culture and recreation.

In Quebec, a decline of 18,000 part-time jobs was nearly offset by a gain in full-time work, leaving employment in the province up 1.2% (+44,000) from March 2004. Despite little overall change this month, there were declines in accommodation and food services and in transportation and warehousing. These were offset by gains in educational services and public administration.