NLIS 4
August 8, 2003
(Human Resources and Employment)

 

Employment numbers show best July since 1989

According to Statistics Canada�s Labour Force Survey, employment for the province continued to make gains with record highs for employment, participation rate, labour force size, and employment rate for the month of July.

Employment increased 0.7 per cent, or 1,700 jobs last month, as compared to the same time period last year. Other labour force indicators also reflected positive trends. Since July 2002, the labour force participation rate climbed 0.8 points to 64.4 per cent, the labour force grew 1.1 per cent to 282,300 and the employment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 55.3 per cent.

"We have seen impressive employment growth in Newfoundland and Labrador so far this year with steady year over year gains in employment each month this year," said Ralph Wiseman, Minister of Human Resources and Employment. "We are optimistic that these trends will hold through the fall and into the remainder of the year."

Due to the labour force growing more quickly than employment, the unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 14.1 per cent, as compared to July 2002. On a year-to-date basis, the number of persons employed grew by 1.9 per cent while the number of persons in the labour force grew by 2.1 per cent compared to the first seven months of 2002.

Year-to-date employment gains were concentrated in the services sector. Industries recording growth included health care; transportation and warehousing; accommodations and food services; and other services.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment dropped by 0.2 per cent while the unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points from June to stand at 15.8 per cent. Seasonally adjusted data is used to look at patterns of change within the current year from one month to the next, whereas the unadjusted data is used to compare the current to the previous year.

Minister Wiseman concluded: "The continued good news of stronger employment figures demonstrates the long-term improvements in our provincial economy."

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

2003 08 08                                      12:40 p.m.


SearchHomeBack to GovernmentContact Us


All material copyright the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. No unauthorized copying or redeployment permitted. The Government assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of any material deployed on an unauthorized server.
Disclaimer/Copyright/Privacy Statement