Canada. Number of Payroll Employees Decline by 2 %

Since it peaked in October 2008, the number of payroll employees has declined by 2.0% or 296,000. Non-farm payroll employment fell by 79,600 in February, down 0.5% from a month earlier.

In February, the largest decline was in manufacturing, where widespread declines pushed payroll employment down by 19,300. Within manufacturing, the largest drops were in transportation equipment; fabricated metal; machinery; food manufacturing; and wood products.

Although manufacturing employment has been in steady decline since it last peaked earlier this decade, the pace of job losses has accelerated in recent months. Since October 2008, payroll employment in manufacturing has fallen by 99,700 or 6.1%, more than three times the rate of decline of total payroll employment. Nearly one-quarter of the manufacturing decline since October has come directly from the auto sector.

In February, payroll employment in construction dropped by 11,100, mainly in building equipment contractors, other specialty trade contractors and general residential construction. As well, a decline in architectural and engineering services (-3,200) came as construction activity in Canada slowed.

There were also declines in a number of other industries, including non-Internet publishing (-4,800), credit intermediaries and related activities (-4,300) and truck transportation (-4,200).

Despite the overall decline in February, there was modest job growth in health and education, specifically ambulatory health care services, specialty hospitals, elementary and secondary schools, and community colleges and Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEPs).

February payroll employment fell in most provinces, particularly Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Average weekly earnings, including overtime, of payroll employees in February was $820.95, up 1.8% from February 2008. This was slower than January's year-over-year increase of 2.4%.

Job losses in manufacturing widespread, led by motor vehicles
Since October 2008, the number of employees working in motor vehicle parts manufacturing has fallen by 13,300, while motor vehicle and motor vehicle body manufacturing has dropped by 10,200.

As of February 2009, there were 111,500 employees working in motor vehicle assembly and parts, down 65,000 or 37% from its peak in 2001.

Data show large increases in recent months in the unemployment rates in all major communities of Southwestern Ontario. At 13.7% in March 2009, Windsor has the highest unemployment rate of all large communities in Canada.

The job losses in motor vehicle manufacturing coincided with declines in some related industries. Payroll employment in the automotive repair and maintenance industry has fallen by 5,000 since October. The number of employees also declined at automobile dealers (-4,200) and in new motor vehicle and parts wholesaler-distributors (-2,300).

Other manufacturing industries with notable job losses included fabricated metal products; wood products; machinery; plastics and rubber products; furniture and related products; primary metals; and printing and related support activities manufacturing.

Provincial changes in payroll employment

In February, the number of jobs fell by 30,300 or 0.9% in Quebec, the largest percent change in payroll employment among all the provinces. Ontario and Alberta each experienced a decline of 0.6%, while British Columbia decreased by 0.4%.

While seasonally adjusted detailed industry job data are available at the national level, they are not available for the provinces and territories. For trends in payroll employment in various detailed sectors among the provinces and territories, analysis is done on a year-over-year basis.

While Quebec experienced the largest monthly decline, both Ontario and British Columbia had the biggest drop between February 2008 and February 2009.

Over this one-year period, overall non-farm payroll employment in Ontario declined by 1.7% or 97,800. The biggest decline over this one-year period occurred in the province's manufacturing industries, where payroll employment fell 94,000 or 12.1%.

In British Columbia, payroll employment was down 28,400 or 1.5% in February 2009 compared with a year earlier. Much of this decline was linked to wood-related industries such as wood product manufacturing (-8,300); forestry, logging and support (-3,900); and paper manufacturing (-3,000).

Payroll employment in British Columbia's construction industry was down over the year by 8,100 jobs, mainly among specialty trade contractors and, to a lesser extent, general residential building construction.

Average weekly earnings

Average weekly earnings, including overtime, of payroll employees was $820.95 in February, up 1.8% from February 2008.

In the largest industrial sectors, from February 2008 to February 2009, average weekly earnings were up by 5.6% in retail trade, 2.0% in health care and social assistance, 1.5% in accommodation and food services, 0.7% in educational services and 0.6% in public administration.

During the same period, earnings declined by 4.3% for employees in manufacturing as a whole.

Earnings declined for employees in most of the biggest manufacturing industries, that is, food; transportation equipment; fabricated metal products; machinery; and wood products.

Provincially, the strongest year-over-year earnings growth among the provinces occurred in Alberta (+5.4%), Newfoundland and Labrador (+4.5%) and Saskatchewan (+3.5%).

Source: Statistics Canada, April 29, 2009

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