Employment continues to grow in Newfoundland and Labrador

According to the latest Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada employment in Newfoundland and Labrador grew by 3.2 per cent in February, or approximately 6,300 jobs, as compared to the same month last year. This strong growth was paralleled by 3.3 per cent growth in the labour force. Because the labour force grew at virtually the same rate as employment, the year-over-year unemployment rate remained unchanged at 19.2 per cent. The labour force participation rate, however, grew by 1.9 percentage points to 56.9 per cent, the highest ever recorded for the month of February.

"After a short-lived slowdown in the latter half of 2002, employment growth has regained momentum in 2003," said Ralph Wiseman, Minister of Human Resources and Employment. "We expect the trend seen to date in 2003 to continue as we move into the spring and summer months and major project construction activity picks up."

Most of this employment growth was recorded in services sector industries, notably health care; professional; scientific and technical services; transportation and warehousing; and management services.

On a seasonally adjusted basis employment in February was up 0.7 per cent from last month while the unemployment rate was down 0.4 percentage points to 17.5 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 the same time last year.

Media contact: Simon Lono, Communications, (709) 729-4062.

2003 03 07                                       3:20 p.m.