Job creation in Canada is a joke!

Following a year of weak job creation, the Canadian economy started 2015 by adding a strong 35,400 jobs in January. However, while that is impressive, a closer look at the numbers paints a less positive picture. Unlike last year when full-time positions accounted for the gains, all of the job gains in January came in part-time work. As well, the gains were in the self-employed category, which typically is not a great indicator of long-term job stability. Still, the gains were strong enough to push the unemployment rate down a tenth of a point to 6.6 per cent.

The federal government routinely boasts that it has created more than a million jobs over the last seven years. But the job creation numbers the government cites also include temporary foreign workers -- non-Canadians or residents brought to the country to work at jobs that employers here say they can't fill.

However, as the chart below shows, the Federal Government since Harper came to power has not done well in creating jobs or keeping unemployment down. In 2008 the Recession hit and within two years according to the government we were out of the recession. Look at the Unemployment rate from 2010 to today and while it is going down, it is still not as low as it was in 2006

A comparison of Unemployment rates between 1996 and 2006 show how this government is not a good manager of the economy. In 1996 our Unemployment Rate was close to 10%. Since the 1960’s the Canadian unemployment rate has averaged close to 7.1%, with a high of 13% and a low of 2%.  As is clear the rate of unemployment in 2006 was 6.5%. Today it is 6.8 but this number may be optimistic.

The government includes  temporary workers in the country's job creation numbers, and the government runs the risk of providing misleading information about the true state of the labour market, said a labour expert.

Kendra Strauss, an assistant professor of labour studies at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, said lumping foreign workers in with figures for all new jobs could provide a false picture of the labour market.

There were more people working in retail and wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, educational services, and natural resources in March. At the same time, there were fewer people working in construction, public administration, as well as agriculture.

The number of public sector workers increased in March. 

There was little change in the number of private sector employees and the self-employed.

In March, employment rose among women aged 55 and older, while there was little change among the other demographic groups. 

Over the first quarter, employment gains totaled 63,000 (+0.4 percent), the result of more part-time work.

In the 12 months to March, employment increased by 138,000 (+0.8 percent), with most of the growth in full-time work. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked was little changed (+0.1 percent).

Full Time Employment in Canada decreased by 28.20 thousand in March of 2015. Full Time Employment in Canada averaged 12.83 Thousand from 1976 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 148.40 Thousand in May of 2006 and a record low of -145.10 Thousand in July of 2010

Charts from www.tradingeconomics.com/canada/unemployment-rate