Spurred by a large gain in part-time jobs, employment jumped by 49,000 in June, following slight declines in the previous two months. The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 7.7% in June.

Since the start of 2003, employment has grown by only 0.5% (+84,000). Even so, this is a better performance than in the United States, where employment declined by 0.2% over the same period.

The strong growth in employment in June was almost all in part-time work. This increase offsets earlier declines and leaves part-time employment at about the same level as at the start of 2003. Following four months of robust gains, full-time employment growth has stalled in the past two months.

Manufacturing employment continues to decline

In June, employment rose in a number of service-producing industries, especially transportation and public administration. However, employment in manufacturing continued its downward trend that began at the end of 2002, falling by 23,000 in June. This leaves 89,000 fewer factory workers (-3.7%) than in November 2002. The manufacturing decline in June was concentrated in food processing in Ontario and clothing production in Quebec.

Strong job growth for adult women

Following five months of virtually no job growth, employment among adult women jumped by 29,000 in June, mostly in full-time work. These gains pushed their unemployment rate down 0.3 percentage points to 6.3%.

In June, employment among adult men edged up 16,000, all in part-time work. This partially offset the sharp decline observed in May and leaves employment among adult men up only 46,000 (+0.6%) since the start of 2003. In June, their unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.6%.

For a second consecutive month, part-time employment rose in June among youths while full-time employment declined, leaving overall youth employment virtually unchanged. Although youth employment growth has been weak so far in 2003, youths continue to enter the labour market. This has pushed their unemployment to 13.9% in June, up 0.6 percentage points since the start of the year.

The summer job market continued to improve for students. The employment rate for students aged 20 to 24 (those who had been attending school full-time and who planned on returning in the fall) stood at 68.8% in June, up 1.2 percentage points compared with 12 months earlier. Over the same period, the unemployment rate for this group fell 1.9 percentage points to 9.0%.

Service industries lead job growth

In June, employment in transportation and warehousing increased 13,000, offsetting the loss in the previous month. Much of the increase occurred in the truck transportation industry. Despite the growth in June, transportation and warehousing employment was down 25,000 (-3.2%) from the most recent peak in September 2002.

Employment in public administration continued the upward trend that began in 2002 with an increase of 12,000 in June. Since the start of 2003, public administration employment has increased 32,000 or 4.0%, with the federal government accounting for most of the gain.

In June, employment in health care and social assistance edged up 12,000, continuing the upward trend that began in 2002. Almost all of the increase in June took place in Ontario.

Employment also increased in the other services category and in retail and wholesale trade, offsetting the losses that occurred in May in each of these industries.

Self-employment up sharply

Following seven months of little change, self-employment jumped sharply by 37,000 in June, mostly in construction and trade. The number of public sector employees also rose in June (+25,000).

Since the start of 2003, all of the employment growth has been in the public sector or in self-employment, while the number of private sector employees has been little changed.

Increase in employment shared by most provinces

After a two-month pause, employment in Ontario increased by 17,000 in June, entirely in part-time work. Due to strength in the first quarter of the year, employment in Ontario has increased 61,000 (+1.0%) since the start of 2003, with two-thirds of the gains in part-time jobs. Despite the job growth in June, Ontario’s unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 7.3% as a large numbers of adults entered the labour force.

In June, gains were made in Toronto in the two industries that had appeared to be most affected by SARS, accommodation and food as well as health care and social assistance.

Employment in Quebec rose slightly (+10,000) in June, mainly among youths. The small increase in employment, together with a decrease in the number of persons looking for work, caused the unemployment rate to decline 0.4 percentage points to 8.9%. Gains in a number of industries more than offset losses in manufacturing and trade.

In Alberta, employment increased by 10,000 in June, the second consecutive gain. The recent increases in employment in Alberta put the province back on its long-term upward trend, following a slow start to 2003.

Employment jumped by 6,000 in June in New Brunswick, with most of the increase concentrated in full-time work. As a result, the unemployment rate dropped 1.4 percentage points to 10.6%.

June’s job growth in New Brunswick only partially offset the losses in the previous two months, leaving the number of jobs down so far in 2003. In May, declines in employment were noted in the food manufacturing industry, and in the Campbellton-Miramichi region. In June, that situation reversed as large gains were made in seafood processing as well as in Campbellton-Miramichi.

After several months of little change, employment in Prince Edward Island rose by an estimated 2,500 in June. The unemployment rate fell 2.6 percentage points to 9.6%. June’s job growth was distributed among several service-producing industries, notably trade.

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