Quebec Sees Low Unemployment Rate Of 4.5 Per Cent In February
According to the Labour Force Survey, Quebec employment rates have been on a rise over the past three months, and in February, about 66,000 applicants got jobs in the province. As a result of these gains, Quebec recorded a historically low unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent last month.
This is the lowest rates since comparable Statistics Canada data became available in 1976.
Most of the jobs went to youth aged fifteen (15) to twenty-four (24). The unemployment rate for this age group dropped to 6.8 per cent, which is also the lowest rate since 1976.
The employment rate, as explained by Statistics Canada, is the number of employed people over the age of fifteen (15) as a percentage of the population. The rate for a particular group is the number of people employed as a percentage of the population of that group, for instance, youth aged fifteen (15) to twenty-four (24).
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people or individuals as a percentage of the labour force, both employed and unemployed.
Employment and Unemployment rate in other Canadian provinces
Employment gains were also seen in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, while the rest of the country saw little changed.
Alberta saw 11,000 jobs filled previous month, mostly among youth. Unemployment saw a little changed at 7.2 per cent. Compared to the previous year, employment in Alberta was virtually unchanged.
On Canada’s east coast, Nova Scotia employment increased by 3,700. The unemployment figure rose by 0.4 per cent to 7.8 per cent. Employment in Nova Scotia was little changed compared to twelve (12) months earlier.
Though the unemployment figures in Manitoba saw no change at five per cent, about 3,200 more people were employed in February. Manitoba has been seeing an employment uptrend since last December. Since last year employment went up by 1.5 per cent in this Canadian Prairie Province.
New Brunswick province’s employment rate was not changed last month, and unemployment fell to 6.9 per cent.
In British Columbia (B.C.) and Ontario, the unemployment rate increased as more people searched for work. B.C. had an unemployment rates of five per cent, and Ontario saw an unemployment rate at 5.5 per cent in February.
Prince Edward Island (PEI) saw a slight increase in employment rate and larger unemployment rates increase, up 0.5 percentage points to 8 per cent.
Newfoundland and Labrador province was relatively unchanged between January and February. Both employment and unemployment increased slightly. The unemployment rates is now twelve (12) per cent.
Unemployment in Saskatchewan increased slightly to 6.2 per cent, however, the employment rate remained the same.
