Manitoba’s labour market continues to exhibit remarkable strength relative to the national job situation according to Statistics Canada information released this morning, Competitiveness, Training and Trade Minister Andrew Swan announced.
“Manitoba is one of only two provinces to report job gains in the last nine months,” said Swan. “Manitoba’s employment growth rate was the strongest performance among the provinces.”
Manitoba has seen 8,300 private-sector jobs created in the last nine months compared to a loss of 360,600 private-sector positions nationally.
“With an increase of 1.9 per cent in private-sector employment, Manitoba is again on top when compared to the other provinces,” noted Swan. “This is more than three times the growth of second place Prince Edward Island.”
Since the beginning of the economic downturn in October 2008, over 414,000 jobs have disappeared countrywide. This is in stark contrast with Manitoba where there are 1,000 more jobs since October 2008.
“With an additional 1,700 jobs created in July, Manitoba outperformed all of the other provinces and is one of only two to post an increase,” said Swan. Nationally, 44,500 jobs were lost in July.
Manitoba’s unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent in July, the second-lowest rate in the country and below the national rate of 8.6 per cent. At 10.2 per cent, Manitoba has the second-lowest youth unemployment rate in the country, well below Canada’s 16.2 per cent.
Manitoba’s strong economy is out-performing the Canadian average in 14 out of 15 major economic indicators including changes in manufacturing shipments, average weekly earning and retail trade, the minister said.
