Statistics Canada - latest release from the Labour Force Survey

Friday, December 5, 2008
Released at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time in The Daily

November 2008

Following little change in October, employment fell by 71,000 in November, with the decrease split between full- and part-time work. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.3%. In the first 11 months of 2008, employment increased by 0.8% (+133,000), a slower pace of growth compared with the 2.2% (+361,000) observed during the same period in 2007.

In November, the employment declines were concentrated in Ontario (-66,000), where there was a large drop in full-time work. Nova Scotia (-4,400) also experienced a decline in November, while employment remained relatively stable in the other provinces.

The manufacturing sector was hard hit in November, with a net employment drop of 38,000. This brings manufacturing declines to 388,000 since the peak in 2002. In Ontario, the employment declines in this sector totalled 42,000 in November. Following gains in October associated with hiring for the federal election, employment in public administration fell by 27,000 in November. Other industries with employment decreases in November were transportation and warehousing; educational services; and agriculture. Employment gained ground, however, in health care and social assistance; and in professional, scientific and technical services. Employment declines were spread out across most demographic groups, with the largest decreases among adult men and youth.

In November, year-over-year growth in the average hourly wage was 4.6%, well above the most recent increase in the Consumer Price Index (+2.6%).