December 6, 1999
(Human Resources and Employment)

The following statement was issued today by Julie Bettney, Minister of Human Resources and Employment. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

I am very pleased to rise before the House of Assembly today to share with everyone the latest labour force statistics for Newfoundland and Labrador. These numbers were released this past Friday by Statistics Canada, and are very encouraging for the province.

Last month Newfoundland and Labrador set a new record for a monthly employment rate. For the month of November the number of people employed in the province rose to 210,500. This is the highest employment rate for the month of November in the province's history.

Our employment rate reached an impressive high thanks to the addition of 8,000 new jobs since November 1998. More importantly these new jobs were almost all in full time employment.

The labour force survey also showed other impressive gains in our provincial labour market. Since this time last year our unemployment rate dropped by 2.1 percentage points. This brings the province's unemployment rate to 14.6 per cent, the largest decline of any province and the lowest rate for Newfoundland and Labrador since the early 1990s.

It is important to mention that these latest gains have come from diverse areas. Employment growth for the month of November was widespread covering all four labour force regions of the province. In addition, gains were made by important members of our labour force such as youth, who saw an unemployment rate decrease of approximately 4.6 percentage points.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador believe these numbers reflect a positive trend of economic growth in our province. However, while we certainly want recognize the strides we have made, we also understand that we all must continue to work together to ensure this momentum continues into the New Year.

Recognizing our accomplishments helps to strengthen confidence in our province's future and fosters a renewed optimism in our economy.

In the first 11 months of 1999 some 10,300 new jobs have been created bringing the total number of new jobs added to the economy in just 35 months to 18,500 - a gain of nearly 10 per cent. These numbers are concrete evidence that employment is continuing to grow in our province.

1999 12 06 2:25 p.m.