New Brunswick Adds 3,000 Jobs In May, Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.2 Per Cent
New Brunswick was one of four provinces to show job gains in May with overall employment growth of 3,000, according to the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey.
The gain in full-time jobs (nearly 6,000) offset declines in part-time employment (more than 3,000). The unemployment rate was down 0.8 percentage points from 8.0 in April to 7.2 per cent in May.
The unemployment rates in the province’s main cities remained lower than in the rest of the province and were closer to the national average. Moncton’s unemployment rate was 5.9 per cent in May and Saint John’s was 5.8 per cent.
Overall, the national economy added 27,700 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since comparable data become available in 1976. The unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent compared with 5.7 per cent in April as the number of people looking for work fell sharply.
Economists on average had expected the addition of 8,000 jobs for the month and an unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon. The better-than-expected increase in the number of jobs follows a record 106,500 jobs that were added in April.
The increase in jobs was made up entirely of full-time employment as there was no change in the number of part-time jobs. Year-over-year average hourly wage growth for all employees, a key indicator monitored by the Bank of Canada ahead of its interest-rate decisions, 2.8 per cent in May, up from 2.5 per cent in April.
With files from The Canadian Press.