Unemployment remains steady, as public sector jobs continue to outpace private sector

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While Canada’s labour market continues on a relatively steady course this summer, growth in public sector jobs last month continued to outpace jobs in the private sector.

Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged last month at 6.4%, with 2.800 jobs lost in July, Statistics Canada said in their monthly labour force survey published Friday.

Following two months of little change, employment in the private sector fell in July by 42,000 jobs (0.3%,) despite overall private sector employment seeing year-over-year growth of 0.6%.

Jobs in the public sector, however, increased by 41,000 positions — or 0.9% — last month, contributing to Canada’s explosive growth in government jobs over the past nine years, which increased 4.8% over the past 12 months.

A Leger poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation published earlier this week suggested a plurality of Canadians want Ottawa to put a rein on the growth of Canada’s public service, which as of this year sits at a record-high 367,772 employees.

Canada’s public servant ranks grew by 42% — nearly 110,000 positions — since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power in 2015.

Overall, July was Canada’s third consecutive month of negligible movement in Canada’s job market.

Canada’s employment rate — the measure of Canadians over the age of 15 with jobs — sits at 60.9%, down from January’s high of 62.4%.

July saw a 0.4% increase in full-time jobs, while part-time positions fell 1.7%.

These losses haven’t impacted Canada’s overall growth in part-time positions, which at 3.4% has seen year-over-year steadier growth compared to full-time positions, which is seeing 1.4% growth.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com

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