With 17,900 people entering the workforce over the past year, more Manitobans than ever before are working, Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade Minister Peter Bjornson announced.
With the number of Manitobans employed in May 2010 rising to 619,000, four out of every five workers are employed full time, according to a Statistics Canada labour-force report released.
“Manitoba’s growth remains steady, the province’s economy remains strong and more Manitobans are working than ever before,” said Bjornson. “Despite the challenges of a world economic downturn, Manitoba is faring well among the provinces.”
Not only are full-time jobs being created, at 4.9 per cent, Manitoba’s unemployment rate is the best in the country and the number of unemployed has decreased by almost 10 per cent in the past year, said the minister.
According to Statistics Canada, Manitoba is performing above the Canadian average by several indicators. Strengths included in the data show:
• From March to April, the Manitoba labour force grew by 5,400 people, employment was up by 6,800 jobs and full-time jobs increased by 6,500.
• Manitoba had the strongest monthly employment growth among the provinces in April with an increase of 6,800 jobs which translated into a monthly increase of 1.1 per cent, well above the national increase of 0.8 per cent.
• Full-time job growth increased by 6,500 positions over March, resulting in a monthly growth rate of 1.3 per cent, more than four times the growth at the national level (0.3 per cent) and the second-best performance among the provinces.
• Since April 2009, Manitoba’s labour force has grown by 17,900 persons or 2.8 per cent and the province’s year-over-year growth is more than double Canada’s growth of 1.2 per cent, the number one increase among the provinces.
Similarly, employment growth is also positive, said Bjornson. Compared to April of 2009, there were 15,100 more jobs in the province for an increase of 2.5 per cent, nearly twice the national increase of 1.3 per cent, putting Manitoba in third place among the provinces, he said.
