June Labour Force Survey results

Industry, Trade and Technology Minister Judy Foote, said she was pleased with the latest evidence of economic improvement in the province as reflected in today's release of the Labour Force Survey results for June. Statistics Canada reported that employment in the province in June increased by 6.6 per cent over the previous 12 months. There were 13,200 more people working in Newfoundland and Labrador in June, bringing total employment to 212,600.

"June was the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year job gains," said Minister Foote. "The 6.6 per cent gain is the strongest we have seen so far in the 1990s. The gain in Newfoundland was more than triple the two per cent gain at the national level. No other province recorded stronger employment growth and no other province had a bigger decline in its unemployment rate."

"While it may appear that the gains have been stronger over the summer months, it is important to note that this trend started in August 1997 and has been gaining momentum ever since," said the minister. "The average employment growth from October 1997 to May 1998 was up 3.8 per cent over the same period in the previous year."

The province's unemployment rate was 17.4 per cent in June compared to 19.6 per cent a year earlier, for a decline of 2.2 points.

"We are seeing strong economic growth this year, just as we forecast at budget time," noted the minister. "Increased activity in offshore oil and gains in the fishery are key factors in this growth. This time last year, there was no oil flowing at Hibernia. Now we are producing over 50,000 barrels per day. The fishery has also enjoyed a better performance this year as crab and shrimp landings are much higher than last year. The crab fishery in particular has benefitted from the new price-setting mechanism government put in place this year, one which avoided a delay in the start of fishing."

Also, the manufacturing sector benefitted from higher activity levels at the newly privatized Marystown Shipyard. In June, employment at the Marystown facility was nearly 1,000, which was about double its level a year earlier. For the entire manufacturing industry, year-to-date shipments are up 12.2 per cent.

On a regional basis, all four of Statistics Canada's labour force regions recorded job gains. The St. John's CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) experienced a 5.3 per cent employment gain in the past year dropping its unemployment rate to 13 per cent from 15.3 per cent. For the April-June period, employment in the St. John's area reached its highest level ever.

Minister Foote added: "Although employment in the St. John's area stands at a record high, the rural parts of our province have not yet recovered from the groundfish collapse. So while we are glad to see the tremendous improvement in the labour force situation, we must look at it with a note of caution."

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