The Canadian economy lost 9,400 jobs in June, and the national unemployment rate edged up a notch to 7.1%. However, we actually gained 33,500 full-time jobs, while there were 43,000 fewer people working part-time.

You can read the full report from Statistics Canada here.

This increase in full-time work is the reverse of what we saw last month. In May, Canada saw an overall increase in employment, but the gains were all in part-time jobs with losses in full-time. The two-month average still adds up to net gains in employment.

The two steps forward, one step back dance of slow employment growth that we have seen since the end of the recession continues. In fact, Statistics Canada says that June market the slowest month for year-over-year gains in employment since the recovery started in February of 2010.

Workopolis is seeing an increase in online job postings for all regions and industries, year-over-year, so we continue to expect that there will be slow but steady gains in employment for July and the coming months.

Interestingly, Alberta lost part-jobs in June, largely in the hospitality sector. However, job postings for opportunities in this field are up by over 40% year-over-year. This leads us to believe that the jobs actually exist, but employers aren’t able to find the people they need to fill them. This situation was possibly exacerbated by the recent cancellation of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

Ontario appears to have been the province hardest hit by job losses in June, shedding 34,000 jobs with declines in both full-time and part-time work.

Online job postings are up year-over-year in June

Nationally, online advertisements for job openings decreased in June by 1 per cent month-over-month; however they were up by 20 per cent over June of last year. This slight drop in job postings from May marks the first month that has seen a decrease in opportunities being posted online since January.

While month-over-month job online postings were flat in the west, down slightly in Ontario and Quebec and up by 4 per cent in the Atlantic Provinces, every region of the country is showing significantly more opportunities being advertised online that they were one year earlier.

The West gained 33 per cent in June, while Ontario saw a year-over-year increase of 31 per cent. Quebec also saw gains with 15 per cent more job openings posted last month than in May of 2013. The Eastern region, with a 40 per cent gain, saw the greatest proportional year-over-year increase in online job postings again last month.


Sectors:

While year-over year, we are seeing an increase in job opportunities being posted online for all sectors, several industries are showing employment gains that stand out.

Processing, Manufacturing, Utilities, Natural Resources, Agriculture (+36 per cent); Hospitality (+29%); and Trades, Transport & Equipment Operators (+26 per cent) are the occupation categories that are driving the greatest growth nationally.
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Peter Harris
– Peter Harris on Twitter

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