Statistics Canada confirms Manitoba’s economy fairing well since global economic slowdown
There were more Manitobans working in August than ever before, Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade Minister Peter Bjornson announced.
With an additional 1,000 jobs in August, there are now 621,600 employed Manitobans, with four out of every five workers being employed on a full-time basis, according to a Statistics Canada labour-force report.
The minister noted that an additional 17,600 people are now employed compared to the start of the year. This represents an increase of 2.9 per cent, which was the strongest provincial job performance and outpaced Canada’s national increase of two per cent.
“Manitoba’s labour-market growth remains on an upward trend with the overall provincial economy remaining solid,” said Bjornson. “Despite the challenges of a world economic downturn, Manitoba is fairing well compared to the other provinces.”
Since the start of 2010, Statistics Canada reported that 16,900 jobs were created by the private sector. This is a growth of 3.8 per cent, outpacing every other province. Full-time jobs rose by 2.9 per cent or 13,900 people, the strongest increase of any jurisdiction and nearly triple the Canada gain of 1.1 per cent.
With a strong labour-force gain of 17,600 individuals or 2.7 per cent, Manitoba’s unemployment now stands at 5.6 per cent, the second-lowest rate in the country and well below the national rate of 8.1 per cent, said the minister.
According to Statistics Canada, Manitoba is performing well above the Canadian average as shown by four of five economic indicators, since the start of the economic slow down in late 2008. Strengths included in the data show:
• total economic growth of 2.1 per cent compared to 0.4 per cent growth for Canada;
• total employment growth of 1.9 per cent in contrast to a decline of 0.2 per cent for Canada;
• a private-sector increase in employment levels of 0.4 per cent, while the national trend is a negative 0.8 per cent;
• population growth of 2.6 per cent exceeding the national increase of 2.5 per cent; and
• an increase in urban housing starts of 15.8 per cent, while there has been nearly a 15 per cent decrease in housing starts at the national level.
“Manitobans should be proud that their accomplishments have lead to the strong Manitoba economy and job growth. It is a collective achievement,” said Bjornson.
