Canada's Unemployment Rate Holds Steady in December

Statistics Canada announced today that the unemployment rate held steady at 7.6 per cent in December compared to the previous month as the economy created 22,000 jobs, following a decline of 1.1% the previous year.

Full-time employment was up 38,000 in December, the fourth increase in the past five months. Despite these recent gains, part-time employment has grown faster.

Statistics Canada said there were notable employment increases in December in manufacturing; transportation and warehousing; as well as in natural resources. At the same time, there were declines in construction; health care and social assistance; wholesale and retail trade; business building and other support services; as well as agriculture. Compared with December 2009, youth employment was up 1.8% (+42,000), below the overall employment growth of 2.2%.

Among the provinces, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador saw employment gains in December, while British Columbia posted declines. Employment was little changed in the other provinces.

"It was not a bad increase. This confirms that the Canadian economy continues to generate jobs," said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at RBC in an interview with the CBC.

The CBC report went on to say that while the news is good in Canada, it's even better in the United States. On Friday, the Labor Department said the economy in the U.S. added 103,000 jobs in December. And the U.S. unemployment rate fell slightly to 9.4 per cent for the month, the lowest level since May 2009.