Following slight declines in the previous two months, employment rose by an estimated 50,000 in April, all in full-time jobs. The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 7.3%, the lowest since September 2001.

April’s increase in employment brings job gains since August 2003, when the recent upward trend began, to 235,000 (+1.5%).

More full-time jobs

Full-time employment increased by 56,000 in April while the number of part-time jobs was little changed. So far in 2004, full-time employment has grown by 117,000 (+0.9%) while part-time employment has fallen by 87,000 (-2.9%). This continues the trend observed over the last four months of 2003 when employment growth was mainly in full-time work.

Youth employment improves

Employment among youths rose by 21,000, partly offsetting declines over the previous four months. The increase in April was all in full-time jobs and pushed the youth unemployment rate down 0.4 percentage points to 13.9%. The largest employment gains were in accommodation and food services as well as information, culture and recreation. Despite this month’s job increase, the trend in youth employment has been weak since the start of 2003.

For adult women, employment rose by 21,000, offsetting a decline in March. The upward trend that began last August among adult women has generated job gains totalling 134,000 (+2.2%). The increase over this period has been in full-time work.

Over the first four months of 2004, there has been little change in employment among adult men. This contrasts with the last four months of 2003 when employment for this group increased by 74,000. As a result, employment is up 1.2% since last August for adult men.

Upward trend continues for health care and social assistance employment

Employment rose by 19,000 in health care and social assistance in April, continuing the upward trend that began two years ago. The gain this month was primarily in offices of health care practitioners.

Employment rose by 13,000 in both the construction and finance, insurance, real estate and leasing sectors. Although employment in construction has shown little change since the start of the year it is up 3.9% (+36,000) from a year ago. Employment in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing is up 3.5% (+33,000) over the same period. The upward trend in these sectors has coincided with strength over the same period in building permits and housing starts.

An increase of 12,000 jobs in business, building and other support services partly offset a loss in March, leaving employment in this sector down 2.6% (-16,000) since the start of the year. The recent weakness follows gains totalling 43,000 (+7.2%) in the last four months of 2003. The largest increase in April was in building services.

There was also job growth in other services in April, up 18,000. This sector includes persons employed in industries such as repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services as well as private household services.

Employment fell by 21,000 in trade, mostly in retail sales. The decline in April offsets gains observed earlier in the year and leaves employment in the industry slightly below the level of December 2003. The decline this month was mainly in retail jobs in British Columbia.

Employment fell by 13,000 in educational services in April, mostly in Quebec and British Columbia.

In April, employment in manufacturing was little changed for the fifth consecutive month, leaving losses since November 2002, when the downward trend started, at 72,000 (-3.1%).

More self-employed workers

Virtually all of the employment gain in April was added by the private sector (+49,000). The increase was especially evident among the self-employed with a gain of 35,000, offsetting declines of the previous two months. The largest increase in the number of self-employed was mainly in health care and social assistance but there were also gains in business, building and other support services as well as construction. Despite little change year-to-date, the number of self-employed is up 2.3% (+55,000) from a year ago.

Job gains in Quebec

Driven by a large gain in full-time jobs, employment in Quebec increased by 28,000 in April following little change in the previous three months. Almost all of the increase was in Montreal. Industries with employment gains in the province include health care and social assistance, finance, insurance, real estate and leasing as well as other services. The unemployment rate edged down 0.2 percentage points to 8.4%.

Employment in Ontario edged up 14,000, partly offsetting a loss in March. The largest increases this month were in construction and other services. Overall job gains total 80,000 (+1.3%) since last August when growth in the province regained momentum. In April, the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 6.8%.

In Saskatchewan, employment rose by an estimated 6,000 following little change over the first quarter of the year. The gains were spread across a number of industries with youths accounting for most of the increase. The unemployment rate fell 0.7 percentage points to 5.4%.

Employment fell by 4,000 in Newfoundland and Labrador, offsetting a similar gain in March. This leaves employment in the province at about the same level as at the start of the year. Job losses were spread across several industries with the largest in education, retail sales, and in other services such as private household services as well as personal and laundry services. The unemployment rate increased by a full point in April to 16.5%.

Although provincial public sector workers were on strike from April 1 to April 28, they are considered employed according to Labour Force Survey definitions. However, given the large number of employees involved, the strike may have had an effect on other industries resulting in job losses.

Information collected from the Labour Force Survey for Newfoundland and Labrador indicate that 20,000 employees were absent from work during the entire survey reference week from Sunday April 11 to Saturday April 17 due to a labour dispute. During this week, the number of hours lost as a result of the conflict was 731,000 or 36.5 hours per striking employee.

Employment continued to trend down in Prince Edward Island with a decline of 900 in April. Since December 2003, employment losses in the province total 2,300 (-3.3%). Losses in April and since the end of 2003 have been spread across a number of industries. The unemployment rate in April increased by 0.6 percentage points to 12.6%.

There was little change in employment in the other provinces in April.