Canadian and US Employment - January 9, 2015

BCREA ECONOMICS NOW

Employment in Canada was relatively unchanged to end the year, falling by 4,300 jobs in December.

The national unemployment rate remained at 6.6 per cent. Total hours worked, which is closely associated with economic growth, increased by a relatively strong 0.7 per cent.

In BC, employment grew by 2,200 jobs in December. However, the headline number masks an enormous shift in employment from part-time to full-time work. Full-time employment increased a remarkable 22,300 while part-time work fell by 20,200. That full-time employment figure, if it holds, would be the largest monthly gain in full-time jobs since September of 2011. The provincial unemployment rate fell 0.4 points to 5.4 per cent. For all of 2014, BC employment growth was just 0.9 per cent, but did accelerate to average growth of 1.7 per cent in the final three months of the year.

In the United States, the labour market continued to gain strength in December, adding 252,000 new jobs.  Moreover, the US unemployment rate  declined 0.2 points to 5.6 per cent. Over the past three months, the US economy has created an average of 289,000 jobs per month.