Highlights
- According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, the labour market in the Quebec City census metropolitan area (CMA) showed some signs of recovery in November.
- The region finished off the month of November with 419,900 jobs, up 3,700 from October.
- The region’s performance in November helped bring the unemployment rate down to 5.1%, a drop of 0.3 points compared with October and one of the lowest rates in Canada.
- In the province of Quebec, 18,200 jobs were added on a monthly basis in November. Unemployment dropped by 0.1 points to 7.6%.
Comments
The regional performance in November led to stronger growth in the number of workers (+0.9%) than in the total labour force (+0.6%), thus driving down unemployment to 5.1%, one of the lowest rates in Canada. In addition, the employment rate rose to 65.2% in Quebec City last month, maintaining the region’s lead compared with the province of Quebec (60.6%) and Canada as a whole (62%).
In keeping with the situation last year, employment growth was focused primarily on the services sector. The gains will help to offset the stagnation observed in the manufacturing and construction industries. Based on the labour market’s gradual recovery in Quebec City, it seems likely that things will get off to a strong start in 2013.
Louis Gagnon
Senior Economist
Quebec International
