Between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006, Alberta experienced the highest net inflow of residents, posting a migration rate of 20.3 people for every 1,000 population. British Columbia was a distant second with a net migration rate of 12.3 people, while Ontario was third at 9.6 people.  

The highest net inflow relative to the population size occurred in Calgary, which had a net inflow of 21.5 migrants for every 1,000 residents, followed closely by Edmonton with a net inflow of 21.0 migrants and Toronto with 17.3 migrants.

In absolute terms, Toronto had the highest net inflow, with 91,909 more people moving into the metropolitan area than moving out. Vancouver ranked second with a net inflow of 36,321 people, followed by Calgary (+22,961 people).

For Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal, the number of net migrants was highest in the 25-44 age group.

An important shift in rates of net gain per 1,000 population occurred between the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 periods.  In 2004/2005, 4 of the 5 census divisions with the highest net gain in migrants were located near Montreal, with the census division of Mirabel leading the way.

In 2005/2006, Mirabel still ranked first, but this time it was followed by three census divisions from Alberta and two from Ontario.

Data is from Statistics Canada.

30 Sep 2007

Canadian employment edged up by an estimated 23,000 in August according to Statistics Canada. The Canadian unemployment rate remained unchanged at its 33-year low of 6.0 percent, as more people entered the labour force in search of work.

The added employment in August brought overall gains for the first eight months of the year to an estimated 232,000 or 1.4 percent, slightly higher than the growth observed over the same period last year (+1.2 percent).

Older workers, particularly women, experienced strong employment growth in August, bringing total gains for the 55 and over age group to 4.6 percent since the start of the year.

Employment gains in the goods sector in August came primarily from construction. This industry continued to be one of the strongest sources of Canadian employment growth in 2007, up 5.8 percent so far this year.

Construction
Construction employment grew by 16,000 in August, with employment growth of 63,000 since the start of the year.  Employment in the utilities industry grew by 3,900 in August. Since December 2006, employment in this relatively small industry has risen 20.1 percent. Employment in manufacturing was unchanged in August following modest gains in July.

Educational services
Employment in educational services jumped by an estimated 33,000 in August, partially offsetting last month’s decline. Most of the increase was in Ontario’s primary and secondary education sector.

Transportation and warehousing
Transportation and warehousing employment fell by an estimated 31,000 in August with losses evenly divided between the two industries. Despite this decline, employment in transportation and warehousing remained unchanged from a year ago.

Support services
In August, employment increased by 15,000 in both business, building and other support services, and in health care and social assistance. Employment in business, building and other support services was down 1.1 percent from the beginning of the year, while that in health care and social assistance was up 1.4 percent.

Technical services
Employment in professional, scientific and technical services declined by an estimated 14,000 in August. Most of the August employment losses in this industry were equally shared by Ontario and British Columbia. Growth in this industry, however, was up 4.7 percent since December 2006.

Public-sector employment
In August, public-sector employment grew by an estimated 44,000, with gains of 2.6 percent since the start of the year. The growth in August was strongly influenced by the employment increases in the educational services and health care and social assistance industries. The number of private-sector employees has shown little growth so far this year. Despite a small decline in self-employment in August, growth among this group was up 4.5 percent since last December.

Employment booming for older workers
In August, almost all of the employment growth for adult men and women came from those aged 55 and over. An estimated 34,000 older workers found employment in August. Since the beginning of this year, employment among the 55 and over age group has increased by 4.6 percent, the fastest pace of all age groups, with stronger growth for women than men.

The increase in employment in August was largely driven by full-time growth for adult men and part-time gains for adult women.

Newfoundland and Labrador
The number of employed Newfoundland and Labrador residents grew by 3,000 in August, its largest month-to-month increase in 18 months. While their employment rate rose by 0.8 percentage points in August to 51.3 percent, it stands at the same level as it was in December 2006. Virtually all of the August employment gains were in full-time positions for adult men.

Ontario
Ontario’s overall employment picture showed little growth in August. Gains in a number of service industries were somewhat dampened by a large decline in transportation and warehousing. Employment in the province’s goods sector fell by 20,000 in August, about half of which was in manufacturing. At the same time, the unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 6.4 percent. So far this year, employment in the province has risen 0.7 percent, half the national growth rate.

Quebec
Overall employment was little changed in Quebec in August, with gains in the goods sector offset by losses in the services sector. The unemployment rate remained near its 33-year low, and the employment rate remained at its record high of 61.1 percent.

British Columbia
There was little change in overall labour market estimates for British Columbia in August. However, there were a number of ongoing labour disputes in the province, including members of unions in 31 coastal forestry companies and municipal workers in Vancouver. Workers on strike or locked out are considered employed according to Labour Force Survey definitions. The number of hours lost from work due to labour disputes in British Columbia was substantial. During the week of August 12th, an estimated 14,000 employees were not at work because of labour disputes, resulting in a loss of about 517,000 hours or 37.4 hours per affected employee.

Canadian wage growth continues in August
August marked the fourth consecutive month with a year-over-year average hourly wage increase above 3 percent. Employees, on average, made 4.0 percent more per hour in August than they did in August 2006, exceeding the most recent year-over-year Consumer Price Index increase of 2.2 percent.

13 Sep 2007

Recent immigrants who have been in Canada five years or less had the most difficulty integrating into the labour market according to a Statistics Canada report.  This was even though they were more likely than the Canadian-born population to have a university education. In 2006, the national unemployment rate for these immigrants was 11.5%, more than double the rate of 4.9% for the Canadian-born population.

The situation improved for immigrants who had been in Canada between 5 and 10 years. Their unemployment rate was 7.3%.

As expected, the longer immigrants remained in Canada, the better they fared in the labour market, and the more the gap narrowed between them and Canadian-born workers.

The report shows that for the most part, established immigrants, those in the country for more than 10 years, had labour market outcomes in 2006 that most closely resembled those of Canadian-born workers. This is likely a reflection of their integration into the Canadian labour market over time.

The report focused on the labour market in Canada for immigrants in the core working age group, 25 to 54, in comparison with Canadian-born workers.

It pointed to the fact that many newcomers may need time to adjust to their new life in Canada and break into the workforce.

Alberta
Immigrants in strong labour markets, such as Alberta’s hot economy, tended to have relatively strong labour market outcomes, the report found. Immigrants in both Alberta and Manitoba benefited from strong provincial labour markets in 2006, and had some of the best labour market outcomes of all immigrants in the country.

The unemployment rate among very recent immigrants living in Alberta (those who became landed immigrants to Canada between 2001 and 2006) was 5.8% in 2006; less than half the national average for this group. This rate was, however, more than double the unemployment rate for Canadian-born Albertans (2.6% in 2006).

Quebec
Immigrants in Quebec experienced substantially higher unemployment rates in 2006 than Canadian-born Quebeckers, no matter when they landed.

Montréal
Very recent core-working-age immigrants (those who had been in Canada for five years or less) had much higher unemployment rates than their Canadian-born counterparts in all three of Canada’s largest census metropolitan areas in 2006, especially in Montreal.

This group of very recent immigrants in Montreal had an unemployment rate of 18.1% in 2006, three times as high as the rate of 5.9% among Canadian-born Montréalers.

Toronto and Vancouver
Similarly, very recent immigrants in Toronto and Vancouver also faced unemployment rates that were close to three times the rates experienced by the Canadian born in their cities. In Toronto, the unemployment rate for core-working-age very recent immigrants was 11.0%, while it was 4.0% among Canadian-born Torontonians. In Vancouver, the rate was 9.6% for these very recent immigrants, compared with 3.3% among the Canadian born in Vancouver.

Calgary
Calgary’s hot labour market benefited immigrants and Canadian-born workers alike in 2006. Canadian-born workers aged 25 to 54 in Calgary had the highest employment rate (89.3%) among the eight mid-sized CMAs selected for this study.

The strong demand for labour in 2006 was particularly apparent among the city’s immigrants who had been in the country for five years or less. Their employment rate was 73.6%—still below that of their Canadian-born counterparts in Calgary, but higher than that of very recent immigrants in the seven other mid-sized CMAs, as well as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Higher jobless rates for immigrants regardless of education
Immigrants aged 25 to 54 were more likely to have a university education than Canadian-born men and women in 2006. While 36% of immigrants in this age group had at least a bachelor’s degree, the proportion was only 22% among those born in Canada.

However, while unemployment rates for Canadian-born workers were lower for people with progressively higher levels of education, rates for very recent immigrants remained high regardless of their level of education.

Immigrants more likely to work in manufacturing industries
Immigrants were more likely to work in manufacturing industries than Canadian-born workers, as well as in professional, scientific and technical services. They were also more likely to be employed in accommodation and food service industries than those born in Canada.

In 2006, 19.6% of immigrants who had been in the country for five years or less worked in the manufacturing industry, compared with 13.0% of Canadian-born workers. Furthermore, weakness in manufacturing since the end of 2002 may have resulted in job losses among immigrants, particularly in Central Canada, where declines in factory employment have been the most pronounced.

Among Canadian-born workers, the biggest employer in 2006 was the retail and wholesale trade industry, with a 13.8% share. It was also the second-largest employer of immigrants, regardless of time since landing.

In terms of occupations, new immigrants who landed since 2001 were more likely to be working in sales and service jobs than Canadian-born workers.

Occupations in the natural and applied sciences were also more common among newly-landed immigrants than among Canadian-born workers.

11 Sep 2007