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February 07, 2020LABOUR MARKET TRENDS - JANUARY 2020 Nova Scotia's seasonally adjusted employment level was up 1,700 in January to 467,300. Employment is 1,700 higher than it was January 2019.
Nova Scotia's employment increase in January follows a decrease in both November and December. Nova Scotia’s labour force decreased by 900 to 504,500 for January. With an employment increase and a decrease in the labour force the number of unemployed decreased by 2,500 persons. The unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 7.4 per cent in December.
In January, full-time employment decreased by 300 while part-time employment was up 2,000 persons. Note: Changes in part-time and full-time employment can include the net impacts of changing hours of work within the same position.
The year-over-year (Jan-20 vs Jan-19) increase in employment of 1,700 includes an increase of 1,200 in full-time employment and an increase of 400 in part time employment. The unemployment rate was up 0.7 percentage points compared to January 2019.
Age Cohorts
The monthly unemployment rate increased for younger workers in January, compared to December. The unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 rose 0.6 percentage points to 12.3 per cent. For those in the 25-54 year old age cohort the unemployment rate decreased 0.8 percentage points to 6.5 per cent and for those aged 55 years and older the unemployment decreased 0.4 percentage points to 6.5 per cent.
Age Cohort: January 2020 vs. January 2019
Comparing January 2020 with January 2019, the population in the youth cohort (aged 15-24) increased by 600 change along with an increase in both the labour force (+3,200, +4.1 per cent) and employment (+3,200, +5.0 per cent). The decline in the number of unemployed (-200) resulted in the unemployment rate for 15-24-year olds declining 0.6 percentage points to 12.3 per cent compared to January 2019.
Within the 25-54 age cohort, population growth (+2,300) was less than the increase in labour force (+3,700, +1.2 per cent) but more than employment growth (+900, +0.3 per cent). The number of unemployed rose 2,800 and the unemployment rate was up 0.9 percentage points to 6.5 per cent.
For January 2020 compared to January 2019, older workers (55+) reported increases in population (+7,100), but lower labour force (-1,500, -1.3 per cent) and employment (-2,300, -2.1 per cent). The unemployment rate for older workers increased from 5.6 per cent to 6.5 per cent over the past year.
Males and Females
The male participation rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 65.2 per cent in January 2020. The participation rate for females was down 0.5 percentage points to 59.1 per cent compared to last month.
For January 2020, monthly employment increased by 1,800 among males and declined by 200 among females. The labour force was up 1,000 among males and lower by 1,900 among females. The male unemployment rate fell to 8.6 per cent and the female unemployment rate decreased to 6.1 per cent.
Males and Females: January 2020 vs. January 2019
For January 2020 compared to January 2019, female labour force (+2,600, +1.1 per cent) and employment (+1,200, +0.5 per cent) gains outpaced population growth (+300). The unemployment rate among females increased 0.4 percentage points to 6.1 per cent for January 2020.
For January 2020 compared to January 2019, the male population has increased by 300. The male labour force has increased by 2,700 (+1.1 per cent) while employment among males increased by 500 (+0.2 per cent). The smaller increase in employment than labour force resulted in the unemployment rate among males rising by 0.9 percentage points to 8.6 per cent for January 2020.
Sectors
Monthly employment gains in January reflected declines in private sector employees (400) in self-employed (2,200) while public sector employees fell 900. Monthly employment in January was up 800 in goods industries, notably in Construction (+1,300). Service sector employment increased by 900 with the largest change in information, culture, and recreation (+1,000), accommodation/food services (+1,300) and other services (+1,100). Health care and social assistance employment declined 3,000 compared to December 2019.
Sectors – January 2020 vs. January 2019
Looking at the results by class of worker for January 2020 compared to January 2019, employment increases for the private sector (10,000) offset declines in public sector (-5,900) and self-employment (-2,400).
Among goods-producing sectors, compared to January 2019, employment increases were seen in construction (+2,000) and manufacturing (+3,000).
Service industry employment is 2,300 fewer in January 2020 compared to January 2019. Employment declined occurred in Wholesale/retail trade (-2,600), transportation/warehousing (-900), educational services (-2,900), information, culture and recreation (-2,300), and other services (-1,200). Employment gains were seen in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing (+1,900), business, building and other support services (+1,800), health care and social assistance (+1,800) and accommodation and food services (+2,000). There was little change in Professional, scientific and technical services (+200) and public administration (+100).
Regions – January 2020 vs. January 2019 (unadjusted 3 month moving average)
Comparing January 2020 January 2019, Cape Breton employment is up (+4,500) while the labour force increased by 2,300. The number of unemployed declined 2,200 and the unemployment rate fell 4.5 percentage points to 12.2 per cent.
For the North Shore region, the labour force increased by 5,500 while employment increased by 3,500. With labour force growing faster than employment, the number of unemployed rose by 2,000. This caused a 2.2 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate from 6.5 per cent to 8.7 per cent.
The Annapolis Valley reported an increase of 1,400 in employment along with an increase of 1,000 in the labour force. Unemployment declined 400 and the net result was a decline in the unemployment rate by 0.8 percentage points to 6.5 per cent.
The Southern region had a decrease of 6,400 in employment along with a decrease of 5,000 in labour force. The unemployment rate increased 3.3 percentage points to 9.8 per cent for January 2020.
Halifax experienced an increase of 7,300 in labour along with an increase of 1,800 in the labour force. With unemployment rising by 5,400, there was an increase of 2.0 percentage points in the unemployment rate from 4.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent in Halifax.
Provincial Comparisons
The Nova Scotia unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent in January 2020 increasing from 6.7 per cent the previous year. Canada’s unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 5.5 per cent in January 2020 compared to January 2019
Compared to January 2019, six provinces are reporting lower unemployment rates with the largest decline in Prince Edward Island where unemployment declined form 9.6 per cent to 7.5 per cent over the past year. Nova Scotia reported the largest unemployment increase (+0.7 percentage points) compared to January 2019.
Nationally, employment rose 1.4 with gains in seven provinces over the last year. The largest gains in percentage terms was seen Prince Edward Island (+6.4%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-4.2%) reported the largest decline.
National Comparisons: Cities (Monthly)
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Halifax Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in January 2020 was 6.4 per cent (3 month moving average). Victoria, British Columbia (3.5 per cent) had the lowest unemployment rate among CMAs while the highest was in Windsor (8.3 per cent).
The seasonally adjusted employment rate for the Halifax was 63.5 per cent, unchanged compared to last month. Peterborough, Ontario (51.8 per cent) had the lowest employment rate, while Barrier, Ontario (69.2 per cent) had the highest.
Halifax’s employment (3 month moving average) for December 2019 was up 0.3 percent compared to the December 2019 result. The largest gain among CMAs was in Moncton where employment was up 2.8 per cent.
Note: Seasonally adjusted, 3 month average.
With the January 2019 Labour Force Survey release, Statistics Canada has changed the processing systems that is used to impute data of incomplete records of the survey. Statistics Canada notes that for most LFS estimates the difference from the new system will be small, but some areas could be impacted such as part-time employment and employment by firm size. The transition is being monitored and historical revisions of series maybe made in the future. For more details, see Transition of Labour Force Survey Data Processing to the Social Survey Processing Environment (SSPE)
Sources:
Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0287-01 Labour force characteristics, monthly, seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle, last 5 months
Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0294-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, last 5 months
Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0293-01 Labour force characteristics by economic region, three-month moving average, unadjusted for seasonality, last 5 months
Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0355-01 Employment by industry, monthly, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, and trend-cycle, last 5 months (x 1,000)
Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0288-01 Employment by class of worker, monthly, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, last 5 months (x 1,000)
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