Unemployment Up in Halifax as Job Market Grows
HALIFAX – More people entered the job market in Halifax last month, causing the city’s unemployment rate to creep up slightly.
In February, the unemployment rate in Halifax rose to 6.6 percent. That’s a 0.2 percentage point bump from January, when it was 6.4 percent.
But more people looking for work in the city is not necessarily a sign of a slowing job market.
According to Statistics Canada about 900 new jobs were created in Halifax last month. Meanwhile, the city’s population grew by about 600 people. That means more new jobs than new people came to the city in February.
However, unemployment in Halifax still went up because an even larger number of people came back into the job market to look for work.
The city’s total labour force grew by 1,500 people last month, while participation rates jumped from 67.9 percent to 68.2 percent.
Across the entire province, meanwhile, there is still a strong trend towards more part-time and fewer full-time jobs.
Statistics Canada says that in February the number of full-time jobs in the province dropped by two percent and the number of part-time jobs went up by 5.7 percent.
In total, 382,000 people had full-time work in Nova Scotia last month, while 85,000 had part-time work.
The majority of new February jobs in the province came in the “information, culture, and recreation” and “health care and social sciences” fields. “Construction” and “Wholesale and Trade” sectors were the biggest job losers for the month.