Unemployment rate holds steady nationally, little change regionally to end 2018
Canada ended the year with its unemployment rate steady at a 43-year low of 5.6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada’s monthly labour force numbers.
The national agency said the country added 9,300 net new jobs in December, coming on a gain of 28,300 part-time positions and a drop of 18,900 full-time jobs. The growth follows a net uptick of 94,000 jobs in November, which was Canada’s largest monthly increase since March 2012.
Across the country in 2018, Statistics Canada reported employment growth by 163,000 or 0.9 per cent, a pace slower when compared with both 2017 and 2016, at 2.3 and 1.2 per cent, respectively.
Employment rose in Newfoundland and Labrador — edging the unemployment rate down to 11. 7 per cent — while it fell in Alberta, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Increases were recorded in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, as well as in health care and social assistance.