Economy sheds 54,000 jobs, unemployment rate jumps

Oh, Oh. This is what people have been warning about - that we're not immune to the trouble in other countries.

It's fairly typical to see employment fall in the fall. Construction layoffs account for most of that figure. This year's numbers are typical of other years. Move along, nothing new or surprising to see here.

It's all because of people I don't agree with.

In related news: "In Alberta, employment edged up slightly and unemployment declined 0.3 percentage points to 5.1 per cent. "

OTTAWA - Canada's jobs market suffered the biggest setback in almost three years last month, shedding a massive 54,000 jobs overall — all full-time and concentrated in Ontario's manufacturing and construction industries.
The unemployment rate rose two notches to 7.3 per cent, wiping out recent dips in the rate.
Nearly 1.4 million Canadians are unemployed and some analysts predict the jobless rate could hit eight per cent next year as the economy continues to slow.
September's report showed the biggest one-month job loss since March 2009, in the midst of the worst recession in decades, and came amid persistent fears that Europe's debt crisis, the weak U.S. recovery and slower Asian growth will hit Canada....


In the wake of the unemployment report, the Canadian dollar fell sharply more than a cent on the news to 98.04 US in early morning trading.
Friday's jobs report from Statistics Canada was even more disturbing in the details, as all the losses and more were in the full-time category and in the goods producing sector.
In all 71,700 full-time jobs vanished during the month — Ontario alone shed 75,400 — as part-time employment rose slightly, making the headline number appear more palatable.
Economists had expected a weak October after September's surprising 61,000 pick-up, although that was somewhat inflated by returning education workers. But the consensus was for nothing worse than a moderate increase of 15,000.

Statistics Canada pointed out that employment is still up 237,000 in the last year, but the last four months has seen virtually no increase in employment overall. As well, last month was the first significant contraction in the labour market in almost two years, the agency said.
"This is an extremely loud warning shot for the economy," said Bank of Montreal economist Douglas Porter.
"The pressing question now is whether this steep pullback represents a correction from that surprising strength (in first half of the year), or the start of a new dismal trend?"
Scotiabank's Derek Holt said he is more inclined to look past the "volatility" of the monthly headline numbers and look to the underlying factors. And those show a widespread weakness.
He points out that hours worked dropped 0.2 per cent in October, following a 0.3 decline the previous month despite the increase in employment, and that wage gains continue to slow to 1.3 per cent over last year.
"The headline volatility from one month to the next should be dismissed, but it's the structural trends here that are disturbing," he said.
"The trend on job growth and the weakening trend on hours and wages, all combined they suggest that Canadian paycheques are softening as a cyclical driver for consumer spending."

"No matter how you look at this report, it's a negative report," said TD Bank chief economist Craig Alexander.
"I should say I don't think it's the start of a trend. I don't think we're going to get month after month of declining jobs, (but) basically job growth in Canada has stalled."

Of course it's a negative report...the same negative jobs report we get every October. Canada is a seasonal economy. "The way she goes, Ricky, fuckin' way she goes."

Well, your fellow economists quoted in the article seem to be more concerned about it than you are.

What were we saying in other threads about 'reporters'?

I am concerned about it. I'm concerned about it every fall. You didn't bother to highlight the line that starts "Economists had expected a weak October...". We expect it every year. I guess there's potential good news in the long-term. If global warming keeps up its pace, construction will be able to go on all winter in Canada before too long.

They must be wrong if they don't agree with you? So they misquoted those economists?

I didn't say they were wrong. I said this happens every year.

They didn't say, as you did, this happens every year so no worries. They said this is a worrying trend, not a typical seasonal cycle. Or am I interpreting this wrong:

Andy, andy, andy. The article says 20,000 (or half the loss) is in construction. Manufacturing is down 2.7%...significant, but not terribly worrisome when you consider most of that is Honda and Toyota dealing with tsunami fallout. If you want to freak out, light your hair on fire and go shouting in the streets about 50,000 lost jobs in October, go right ahead. But it happens every October.

Ya see andy, stuff like this makes it in the "local" news every October. Ontario takes a hit in employment. Happened last year, and the year before that, etc etc.., and it'll most likely happen next year too.
Employment levels drop in October almost as assuredly as Thanksgiving and Hallowe'en are celebrated every October.

What would acually be news would be hearing that employment levels during the month of October in Ontario.