Employment numbers remain positive for province

Employment in the province continued to move upward in March, according to the latest Labour Force Survey released by Statistics Canada.

For the month of March, employment for Newfoundland and Labrador increased by 3.0 per cent or approximately 5,700 jobs as compared to the same time period last year. Along with the employment increase, came an increase in the number of people actively seeking employment. As a result, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 18.7 per cent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points as compared to March 2001.

"We have seen an increase in employment in each of the first three months of this year," said Ralph Wiseman, Minister of Human Resources and Employment. "It�s very encouraging to see the significant employment gains we made in 2001 continue in 2002."

Employment gains were widespread with some of the largest increases occurring in fish harvesting, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, management services, and education services.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment rose by 1.4 per cent compared to February 2002 and the unemployment rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points to 16.6 per cent. Seasonally adjusted data looks at patterns of employment change within the current year from one month to the next, whereas the actual data compares employment this year to employment last year.

Media contact: Paul Power, Communications, (709) 729-4062.

2002 04 05                          3:25 p.m.