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March 11, 2022LABOUR MARKET TRENDS - FEBRUARY 2022 Labour force survey results reflect the period from February 13 to 19. Many restrictions implemented to contain the Omicron variant of COVID-19 were eased prior to this week.
Ages 15+ (February 2022 vs January 2021, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia's seasonally adjusted employment increased by 3,700 (+0.8%) from January 2022 to February 2022, rising to 476,300. This is the fourth consecutive month of employment gains in Nova Scotia.
Rising employment was attributable to a larger gain in part time employment (+4,700) while full time employment pulled back by 1,000 after. This partially reverses the gain in full time and decline in part time employment observed in January 2022. These changes include variations in hours within the same job.
Nova Scotia’s labour force increased 1,400 (0.3%), rising to 509,800.
With a employment growth outpacing labour force expansion, Nova Scotia's unemployment rate declined from 7.0% in January 2022 to 6.6% in February 2022. This is the third lowest unemployment rate in the monthly Labour Force Survey records dating back to 1976. Only March and May of 2019 reported lower unemployment rates (6.5% each).
Nova Scotia's labour force participation rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 61.3% in February 2022. The employment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 57.3% in Febuary 2022. Although employment levels have returned to pre-COVID benchmarks, the participation rate remains below the level observed in February 2020 (62.6%).
Ages 15+ (February 2022 vs February 2021, seasonally adjusted)
Compared with the same month last year, Nova Scotia's population increased by 14,300 while the labour force grew by 2,400 and employment increased by 11,700. The unemployment rate decreased by 1.8 percentage points while the participation rate declined by 0.8 percentage points. The employment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points.
Age Cohorts (February 2022 vs January 2022, seasonally adjusted)
Among youth (ages 15-24), employment decreased 1,700 (-2.5%) while the labour force increased by 1,200 (+1.6%). The rise in labour force lifted the youth participation rate to 68.6% while the fall in employment pushed the employment rate down to 59.6%. The combination of rising participation and falling employment rates pushed the youth unemployment rate back up to 13.2% after it fell sharply in January.
The population aged 25-54 makes up the largest part of the labour force. In this core age group, employment increased by 2,400 (+0.8%) while the labour force contracted by 1,200 (-0.4%). The combination of a lower participation rate (86.2%, down 0.6 percentage points) along with higher employment drove the core aged unemployment rate down by 1.3 percentage points to 4.5%. This is a lower core aged unemployment rate than at any time since the start of the monthly labour force survey in 1976; this monthly unemployment rate has not previously been below 5.0%.
Older workers (aged 55+) reported increases in both labour force (+1,400 or 1.1%) and employment (+2,900 or 2.6%). Since the gain in employment outpaced the rise in labour force (the participation rate increased to 34.4%), the unemployment rate for older workers fell by 1.3 percentage points to 7.6%.
Males and Females (Ages 15+, January 2022 vs December 2021, seasonally adjusted)
The monthly employment and labour force increases were concentrated among males. The male labour force increased by 2,200 (+0.9%) while male employment was up by 3,100 (+1.3%). Female employment increased by just 600 (+0.3%) while female labour force was down 700 (-0.3%).
The male unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points to 7.5% as employment grew faster than labour force. The female unemployment rate declined by 0.5 percentage points to 5.7% in February 2022 as employment rose while labour force fell.
Male participation rates increased to 64.6% in February 2022 while female participation rates declined to 58.2%. The employment rate for males was 59.8% while the female employment rate was 54.9%.
Overall, last month's increase in employment was concentrated among males as well as those aged 25-54 and 55+. The rise in labour force was concentrated among males and those aged 55 and older.
Age and sex cohorts (February 2022 vs February 2021, seasonally adjusted)
Since February 2021, employment gains were reported in each age cohort and the growth in male employment was notably faster than for females. Males and core aged workers reported larger decreases in unemployment. The labour force contracted for those aged 25-54 as well as for women.
Class of Worker (February 2022 vs January 2022, seasonally adjusted)
Last month's employment gain was concentrated among private sector employees (+4,500 or +1.5%) as well as the public sector (+1,500 or +1.3%) while self-employment contracted (-2,300 or -3.8%).
Class of Worker (February 2022 vs February 2021, seasonally adjusted)
Compared with February 2021, there were substantial gains in employment for private sector workers (+4,300 or +1.5%), public sector workers (+2,800 or +2.4%) and the self-employed (+4,700 or +8.7%).
Industry of Employment (February 2022 vs January 2022, seasonally adjusted)
The employment gain from January to February was notably concentrated in construction (+4,300), with additional notable gains in health/social industries, education, professional/technical services and accommodation/food. These gains were partially offset by notable declines reported in manufacturing employment as well as in wholesale/retail.
Industry of Employment (February 2022 vs February 2021, seasonally adjusted)
Over the last 12 months, employment has declined notably in accommodation/food, agriculture, education, personal/repair services, forestry/fishing/mining and information/cutlure/recreation. However, these declines were more than offset by rising employment in other industries - notably professional/technical services, health/social, construction, business support (including call centres) and transportation/warehousing. There were only modest change in employment for public administration, finance/insurance/real estate, wholesale/retail, manufacturing and utilities.
Hours worked (February 2022 vs February 2021, unadjusted)
Changes in hours worked (unadjusted) show different variations than changes in seasonally adjusted employment from February 2021 to February 2022. Overall employment was up 2.5% from February 2021 to February 2022, but hours worked increased by 10.0%. Increases in hours worked significantly outpaced employment growth or more than offset employment decline in several industries, notably: public administration, personal/repair services, information/cutlure/recreation, health/social, education, business support (including call centres), professional/technical services, finance/insurance/real estate, transportation/warehousing, manufacturing, utilities and forestry/fishing/mining. Only in agriculture, wholesale/retail and accommodation/food were there larger declines in hours than in employment.
Average weekly earnings (unadjusted, both full time and part time, February 2022 vs February 2021)
Average weekly earnings increased by 5.7% from February 2021 to February 2022. Earnings were up by double digits across several industries: information/culture/recreation, forestry/fishing/mining, professional/technical services, transportation/warehousing and education. Average weekly earnings were down in personal/repair services, wholesale/retail, construction and utilities.
Average weekly earnings across all employees were $965.70 in February 2022. The highest average weekly earnings (both full and part time employees) were reported in public administration, forestry/fishing/mining, professional/technical services and utilities. The lowest average weekly earnings were in accommodation/food and wholesale/retail.
Regions (February 2022 vs February 2021, unadjusted 3 month moving average)
Compared with February 2021, all regions reported lower unemployment rates except for Southern Nova Scotia (where labour force growth was faster than employment growth). In Cape Breton and the Annapolis Valley, employment growth was proportionally faster than growth in labour force while in the North Shore economic region, the labour force declined faster than employment and in Halifax employment grew while labour force contracted.
Provincial Comparisons (February 2022 vs January 2022, seasonally adjusted)
Canada's employment increased by 336,600 (+1.8%) from January to February, as many restrictions to contain the Omicron variant of COVID-19 started to ease. The largest percentage employment gains were in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. There were also significant employment increases in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. There were modest employment gains in Alberta and New Brunswick as well.
The labour force was up 0.6% nationally with increases in 8 of 10 provinces (only New Brunswick and Alberta reported declines). The largest increases in labour force were reported in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.
Provincial Comparisons (February 2022 vs February 2021, seasonally adjusted)
Compared with February 2021, national employment was up 5.1% while labour force increased by 2.0%. Only New Brunswick reported declining labour force. All other provinces reported rising labour force and employment. The fastest gains in employment and labour force were reported in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The national unemployment rate was 5.5% in February 2022, down from 6.5 % in January 2022 and 8.3% in February 2021. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the highest unemployment rate while the lowest unemployment rates were reported in Quebec.
The national participation rate was 65.4% in February 2022. The highest participation rates were in Alberta and Saskatchewan while the lowest were in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The national employment rate was 61.8% in February 2022. Alberta and Saskatchewan reported the highest employment rates while Newfoundland and Labrador reported the lowest.
Census Metropolitan Areas (February 2022, seasonally adjusted 3 month moving average)
Data for Census Metropolitan Areas are three month moving averages from November 2021 to January 2022. As restrictions changed over these months, the three month moving averages may not reflect the volatility observed from month to month.
The Halifax unemployment rate was 5.7% in the February 2022 three month moving average. This was similar to other Census Metropolitan Areas, but lower than in the rest of Nova Scotia (8.9%). Generally, unemployment rates in Census Metropolitan Areas are similar to unemployment rates outside CMAs; the Atlantic Provinces are the exception with substantially higher unemployment rates outside CMAs.
Halifax's participation rate was 66.2% in the February 2022 three month moving average.
Halifax reported an employment rate of 62.5% in the February 2022 three month moving average.
Sources: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0036-01 Actual hours worked by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality; Table 14-10-0063-01 Employee wages by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality; Table 14-10-0287-01 Labour force characteristics, monthly, seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle, last 5 months; Table 14-10-0294-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, last 5 months; Table 14-10-0293-01 Labour force characteristics by economic region, three-month moving average, unadjusted for seasonality, last 5 months; Table 14-10-0355-01 Employment by industry, monthly, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, and trend-cycle, last 5 months (x 1,000); Table 14-10-0288-01 Employment by class of worker, monthly, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, last 5 months (x 1,000); Table: 14-10-0380-02 Labour force characteristics, three month moving average, seasonally adjusted (x 1,000)
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