Greater Sudbury's jobless rate drops to 7% in August

Greater Sudbury's jobless rate dipped to seven per cent in August, down from 7.3 per cent a month earlier, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

However, the number of people with jobs actually shrunk last month compared to July, from 83,900 to 83,100. But that drop was offset by the shrinking size of the labour force, which 89,400 in August, compared to 90,600 in July.

The unemployment rate at this time in 2014 was 6.3 per cent, but the workforce was smaller (87,900), as was the number of people with jobs (82,400).

Canada-wide, StatsCan reported that unemployment increased slightly – 0.2 percentage points to 7.0 per cent — as more people searched for work. Before August, the unemployment rate had held steady at 6.8 per cent for six consecutive months.

“An increase of 54,000 in full-time employment in August was mostly offset by a decline of 42,000 in part-time work,” StatsCan said in a news release.

Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up by 193,000 or 1.1 per cent. Over the same period, full-time work increased by 318,000 (+2.2 per cent) while part time declined by 125,000 (-3.6 per cent). At the same time, the total number of hours worked rose 2.1 per cent.

In August, employment increased among women aged 55 and older, while it edged down for men and women aged 25 to 54. There was little employment change among the other demographic groups.

Provincially, employment rose in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and New Brunswick. There was little change in the other provinces.

Employment increased in public administration and educational services, while it was little changed in other industries.

The number of public sector employees was up in August, while self-employment edged down. At the same time, private sector employment was little changed.

In Ontario, employment was also little changed in August. The unemployment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 6.8 as more people searched for work.

Compared with 12 months earlier, employment rose by 64,000 (+0.9). There were notable increases in full-time work (+145,000 or +2.6), which were partially offset by part-time losses (-81,000 or -6.0).