Labor Force Survey: Employment Held Steady in February

Highlights:

• The employment rate in Canada remained unchanged in February following two monthly increases

• The unemployment rate remains at 5% in February.

In the recently held labor force survey, it was noted that employment held steady in February following the two monthly increases in December 2022 and January 2023.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5%, just a few points over the all-time low unemployment rate of 4.9%, which was recorded during the summer of 2022.

The survey shows that around 1 million people were unemployed in Canada in February. This number has remained the same since January. Employment was mostly unchanged for the core-aged adult population.

There was a little bit of change in youth employment in February from the previous month.

In February 2023, the employment rate for women aged 15 and above was 58.9%, which is higher than the 58.1% rate from August 2022. However, this rate is still lower than the record-high employment rate of 59.2% that was recorded in October 2007.

Employment among women increased by 214,000 between August 2022 and February 2023. The total growth accounted for 61% of the employment growth over the period.

The major driver industries for February were the professional, scientific, and technical industries. On a year-over-year basis, these industries saw a 4.7% increase in employment in February.

Employment in healthcare and social assistance rose by 0.6% in February. Employment in healthcare and social assistance increased by 1.7% in February on a year-over-year basis.

Employment decreased in business, building, and other support services by 1.5%. This is the first notable decrease in employment in a year for the industry. The decline was mostly concentrated in Ontario, with a decline rate of -5.3%. The employment rate remained the same for the wholesale and retail trade and construction sectors.

Employment increased in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick, and Manitoba. Employment declined in Nova Scotia. Employment in Prince Edward Island grew by 2.0%, and in Newfoundland and Labrador, the growth was 1.6%.

In New Brunswick, employment increased by 1.3%. This is the third increase in three months.

Manitoba saw a rise in employment as well. The rate of increase in employment was 0.7%. Nova Scotia is the only province to record a decline in employment this February. The rate of unemployment in Nova Scotia was 5.7% in February. The rate of employment stayed more or less the same in other provinces as recorded in December 2022.

Planning to Move to Canada?

Canada has recorded a stable economy and a low unemployment rate for last month’s labor survey. If you are planning to move to Canada, this might be the best time for you. Although there is a lot of unemployment at this point, there are still a lot of vacancies for high-priority jobs.

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