Economy generates 69,200 new jobs, but jobless rate up

January was a great month for job creation. Statistics Canada reports the economy created an astonishing 69,200 jobs, evenly split between full-time and part-time.

CTV Southwestern Ontario: Nicole Lampa explains

The national jobless rate rose in December, but it was mainly due an increase in those looking for work.

CTV News Channel: BNN's Martin Baccardax reports

In the month of January 69,200 jobs were created. That is a huge job growth, about four times faster than anticipated by analysts. All of the jobs that were lost in the recession have been gained back through 2010 and now brand new jobs are being added.

CTV News Channel: BNN's Mark Bunting explains

A correspondent from the Business News Network says a significant amount of more jobs were added in January than initially expected, as economists predicted only 15,000 jobs would be created.

CTV News Channel: Derek Burleton, TD Bank

The vice president and deputy chief economist with TD Bank Financial Group says the new job numbers are positive, as it indicates that the labour market is healing and the chances of finding employment are rising.

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This is good news but we are still in recovery mode but ahead of most of the world. We need to be careful of our debt levels. With any kind of luck we will see housing prices come back to reality.

EC

Economy generates 69,200 new jobs, but jobless rate up

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Economy generates 69,200 new jobs, but jobless rate up

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CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Fri. Feb. 4 2011 10:41 AM ET

Canada's jobless rate rose last month, despite the surprising creation of 69,000 jobs across the country.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate jumped from 7.6 per cent in December to 7.8 per cent in January. The increases in employment were mainly in building, public administration and agriculture. Transportation and food services saw declines.

While the jobless rate rose, it was actually a good sign: the rate jumped because 106,400 more Canadians returned to the job market. That's about four times bigger a boost than most economists had expected and the largest since last April.

The agency says there are 327,000 more Canadians working since last January, and 467,000 more jobs since the downturn ended in July 2009.

Canada can now say that all the jobs lost during the recession have been recovered -- the only country in the G7 that can make that boast.

Derek Burleton, vice president and deputy chief economist at TD Bank Financial Group says the job creation number was "a big pleasant surprise."

"I think it's hard to put a negative spin on this," he told CTV News Channel Friday.

"One thing we, as economists, have been looking at is a lot of discouraged workers leaving the job market just because they couldn't find work in areas like manufacturing. The fact that we did see more than 100,000 new Canadians in the labour force in the month speaks volume about the fact that the labour market is healing."

The new jobs gained in January were shared between private sector, public sector and the self-employed. The new jobs were also closely split between full-time and part-time: full-time employment rose by 31,100 in January, and part-time jobs rose by 38,000.

More women than men found work last month, and the majority came in the service sector.

January's gains were spread among six provinces, led by Ontario with an increase of 36,300, and Alberta, which picked up 21,600.

Here's what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):

Newfoundland 12.4 (14.0)
Prince Edward Island 11.3 (11.8)
Nova Scotia 9.5 (10.4)
New Brunswick 9.1 (9.4)
Quebec 7.9 (7.5)
Ontario 8.1 (8.1)
Manitoba 5.0 (5.2)
Saskatchewan 5.4 (5.5)
Alberta 5.9 (5.5)
British Columbia 8.2 (7.6)

Comments are now closed for this story

Carl
said
0 0

@Stu: Sorry, but you are dead wrong about Canada's bankruptcy rate. It was reported this week that the bankruptcy rate is at its lowest point ever in Canadian history. Our economy is rock solid right now, whether opponents of the current government like it or not.

Jimbobob
said
0 0

I lost a $70K/year job 2 years ago in BC. Wa wa!! I didn't cry a river to anyone. Had found a full time job at 12.50 in 2 weeks, started my own business working about 4 days a month but made an extra 1000/month at it cleaning offices. My wife worked 3 nights a week at Tim Hortons. I tell you what ,we're not making alot but I didn't miss one mortgage payment, not going to Mexico this year though. Suck it up people, the whiners never seem to be able to pull up their own pants, it makes me sick. Companies are coming to me for cleaning contracts now and it seems my Bio-tech degree is worthless but 10 more contacts and I'm back to 70K a year. Funny world.

Dylan
said
0 0

It's good news to hear we have 69,000 new below-subsistence jobs. Maybe we can thank Wal-Mart for opening more super centres.

peter in mb
said
0 0

Dose this percent include all the leftwing hippie G-20 protesters that don�t want to work?

MARG MM
said
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Ah, what would we do without our daily dose of the "Liberal cheerleaders" and their Harper hating, Liberals can do no wrong cheers??? Even the economists are saying that it is hard to put a negative spin on this news, however the Liberals can always find that "negative spin", and always with the same comments. Fact is, jobs are coming back, like it or not. It seems that the Liberals only want bad news, but even when it is good, they still find time to trash the Conservatives. Most people who became unemployed will take work wherever they can get it, even if it is part time for the time being, however there are always those that prefer to sit on their "duffs" and whine that the Government isn't doing enough for me,me,me. There are many re-training programs for those that chose to take them, but if whining and complaining is more your style, then I guess you are your own worst enemy.

Robert in Courtice
said
0 0

Most of all this "job creation" is part-time,contract work.Including these jobs in employment figures skews the stats.I'll agree that unemloyment is dropping when our manufacturing sector starts to roll,again and our trade deficit is reversed.Until then,we'll be a nation of burger flippers.

bryan from lethbridge
said
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I'm not so sure it's as good as the report says. I used to get 3 or 4 recruiter (read Headhunter corporations) calls a week (before 2008) from Canadian based companies. Then for 2 years nothing, nada, zip.I now get 2 to 3 recruiter calls a week again but they are from US based companies, despite the fact that my resume is on Monster.ca not Monster.com.

RGBrook
said
0 0

I would put money on it that the pro conservative comments on here are from people who are gainfully employed, and that their comments derive either from their complete ignorance of the facts or their holier than thou "I'm employed so what else matters" attitudes (or both). Foolish comments like that spewed forth by Will are a fine example of that!

George Alberta
said
0 0

Economy generates 69,200 new jobs, but jobless rate up. It's funny the cons cheerleaders on here trying to spin an increase in unemployed as good news. If you go to bankruptcies Canada the chart shows that bankruptcies in Canada have increased by about 45%. Spin it anyway you like, Harper has added over 100 billion to our national debit, his zero down mortgages & 40 year amortization have created a housing bubble. Harper would really like the election he's been pushing for. Businesses have shown record profits in the past few years, Harper wants to give these wealthy businesses more welfare. As a business owner, I never pass on any of my profits. I only hire the amount of people I need. There is no advantage to Harper's corporate tax cuts, except for the business owner. If I have a good year I put away a little for a slow season, but mostly I spend the profits, new snowmobile this winter, new boat come spring, I bought a couple of investment properties with the taxes I save. I would just like to thank the tax payers for my increased wealth. I'm all for corporate tax cuts it's making me very wealthy & I still only pay my employees the very minimum that I can get away with.

Mike in B.C
said
0 0

Canada Produced TWICE the number of new jobs then our neigbours to the south..... Great News!!!!I'll wait now for the Left to stand up and turn this into bad news and somehow Blame it on Bush.... silly fools

Sandra
said
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To people like Will who say that there are plenty of jobs out there... I have a degree and 13 years of experience in a profession, all of which were acquired in the US. Coming back to Canada, due to loss of visa that came with loss of job, I have spent more than two years looking for work in my field to no avail. I've heard excuses ranging from "how do we know you won't up and leave for the first available job in the States?" (note, of the 13 years experience I have, 10 1/2 were at the same company) to "You've been away from Quebec for so long, you can't possibly have the knowledge of the French Language" (they come to that conclusion without speaking to me in French). SO, yes, there are jobs out there, IF you meet their qualifications. As a technical writer, with a degree in English, I don't have the qualifications to work for a company like Bombardier as a tech writer, because I lack the Aerospace Engineering degree they've required. I'm going back to school, completely changing my profession, because there ARE NO JOBS IN MY FIELD. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem. If I were, I don't think the unemployment rate would be at 7.8%.

Rick in Alberta
said
0 0

Here in Alberta, I found a job at 20% more than I was making before the rescession, and I get calls almost every week asking if I was still looking. For the people who have skills there is work, but the dead weight employee making $50,000 a year won't find work for sometime. Moving a mouse around, recycling carbon atoms and drinking coffee is not the skills most companies are looking for right now.

Will
said
0 0

Hey, UNEMPLOYED! There are lots of jobs out there, good paying ones too. What are you unwilling to do? That's the problem, you want the benefits and $$$$ but aren't willing to work for them or move to where the jobs are. THERE AINT NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!

Carl
said
0 0

These are great numbers! To put these numbers in context, the unemployment rate today is roughly three points lower than it was for three consecutive years in the late 1990s - when we didn't even have a global recession. Today's rate is lower than the average of all 13 years the Liberals were in power.

SpenBC
said
0 0

If the employment rate were less than 5% some Liberals and leftists would still come on this site and complain. They, of course, would be among the 5%, useless and on the public tit!

Kuljit
said
0 0

Another excuse to raise the interest rates. Does anyone even looked into these newly created jobs? More like Fast food and $10.25 labor jobs.

OttawaJames
said
0 0

i think that there is always a big point that seems to get missed by all the anti-Harper folks out there. while many of the jobs created may not be in the 6 figure field the fact of the matter is that there are 69,000 Canadians out there earning an income that weren't earning one last month. As Martha Stuart would say, That's a good thing!

Gord
said
0 0

We should'nt count jobs that are either government at any level supported by tax revenue or other than private sector for profit jobs that produces and sells something. Too many of us are in jobs that don't produce anything. I shine your shoes, you cut my hair should not count.
I mean real jobs jobs.

blind melon
said
0 0

These are just numbers that don't reveal much information.Does the creation of minimum wage part time job cancel out the loss of a full time well paying job with benefits?Sorry,don't get too excited about job growth numbers unless they are well paying jobs in the private sector.These figures are just propaganda to make people feel good and go out and spend money.Don't worry ,be happy.

Jake in Burlington
said
0 0

Thank you Harper!

Redneck Albertan
said
0 0

I can't speak for the rest of the country, although I suspect the same is true for most jurisdictions when I say the work is out there if you want to hustle. I own and operate my own small business, but when things slow down and I just need something to fill in the gaps, it seems there is never a problem finding excellent paying work. Blaming society, government, your mother, the fact that someone told you they cannot hire you at this time, etc., is just you failing to own up to your own lack of drive. This is Canada and things are unbelievably great here compared to many parts of the world (read those articles about the situation in Egypt if you want to know where people have it tough).

Red X
said
0 0

Harper is meeting Obama today & the Conservatives are waiting around for the Americans to improve their Economy before doing anything meaningful about the environment.

Ted M
said
0 0

Gord. Robson, Nova Scotia So please tell me Gord how is the jobless rate up good news & you said the liberals were going to spin it to bad news. Jobless rate up is not good news. Nice try trying to spin increased unemployment as good news. Keep shaking your pom poms.

Stu
said
0 0

Our economy was doing so well under the liberal government Harper felt it best to add another 100 billion to our national debit, That cost us about 16 million per day in interest. Google bankruptcies in Canada, bankruptcies are 22.5% higher than pre-recession levels so any moron can see this is a BS good news story there Gordy. Sorry you hero has made a mess of our economy & destroyed Canada's reputation on the world stage. Harper is socially conservative & fiscally incompetent.

Marc
said
0 0

Canada has weathered this recession we are coming out of rather well. Personally I believe it just hasn't really hit us yet. The housing market was virtually untouched by the recession which to me is a sign of concern. The housing market is in a bubble right now and within the next year it is going to burst and real estate values are going to drop roughly 30%. When this happens, and it will happen, the economy will be in a downward spiral again. I feel sorry for anyone buying a house right now. They are throwing money away.

bikerborz
said
0 0

While I do sincerely commiserate with people who have lost their jobs, Canada is, indeed, ina very good position right now. Yes, the unemployment rate crept up to 7.8%. But I remember looking for work in the recession of the early 80's, when unemployment was over 13%. This is not nearly so bad, and will get better.

RGBrook
said
0 0

"When Prime Minister Harper has a job so do Canadians"? Are you kidding me Fact Check? It should read "When Prime Minister Harper has a job, so do Conservatives". Or with this "Action Plan" of his, so do Construction workers (not the rest of us), or the people making those expensive and wasteful signs sticking out of the ground all over the country and those Action Plan ads Conservatives just can't get enough of that do nothing more than toot their "look what we've done for Canada" horn. And don't overestimate his international popularity. He's already had a few pitty parties thrown for him from other leaders to back that up... just ask WikiLeaks... LOL

Prof. Pye Chartt
said
0 0

So, to translate this story, and spin it in "Liberal" terms, 69,200 people were hired by McDonald's in January. (Impressive. What a company. What a growth curve.) Now, if you'll join me in some melodrama, please, a moment of silence for all those who didn't have a juicy full-time job land in their lap last month. Until we get back to "100%" employment in this country (as if that's ever happened), we have no reason -- or right -- to be upbeat, positive, or optimistic. Thanks.

UNEMPLOYED
said
0 0

Government keeps announcing a creation of new jobs....
Where are those jobs...which area...I'm looking for job since 2009 and the only thing i got was a part time job with half of my pay...
Yes there is a lots of minimun wages job out there...(jobs that we apply) but for those jobs the majority is OVER QUALIFY...
Please someone out there HAS to do something about, Torontonian life style went down as least 60%, people loosing their house, selling their car...and I still see news on TV about job creation and unemployment rate Dropping...
OPEN YOUR EYES TO A REALITY...
STOP DREAMING...OPEN YOUR DOOR AND SEE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET...

Coodbee Wurse in ON
said
0 0

I was once told by a person that worked for the federal EI ministry that 4% is considered 0% because 4% of the people looking for work are unemployable. (read, their next to useless). So with 3.8% unemployment, there is more work to be done, but that's not bad given the circumstances.

Dave from Toronto
said
0 0

All these new jobs sound well and good, but it leads me to ask. How decent are these new jobs?

Do the people going back to work feel their new jobs have the same future potential as the old job? Are they making anything even remotely close to what they were earning previously? And lastly, are they satisfied with the new job. ~ Not just satisfied that they're working again, but actually feeling they're making a contribution and feel needed?

I'd hazard a guess that the answer to all these questions would mostly be a resounding "NO"!

Fact Check - PMO Job Maker
said
0 0

When Prime Minister Harper has a job so do Canadians. Best in the world. No wonder when he talks at international economic summits the world listens.

RGBrook
said
0 0

Try telling this to those who lost full-time jobs to the recession and either remain unemployed or are scraping a life together on a part-time wage.

EC
said
0 0

This is good news but we are still in recovery mode but ahead of most of the world. We need to be careful of our debt levels. With any kind of luck we will see housing prices come back to reality.

Gord. Robson, Nova Scotia
said
0 0

This is great news. I know the Liberals will be out to twist the facts. We lead the G7 in jobs !Yes there is still people out of work and there always will be no matter what.

Kevin B
said
0 0

More people looking for work means more people are optimistic about the job market. That's the normal pattern in the recovery phase after a recession, that the unemployment rate takes awhile to come down, as more people flood back into the active job market.

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