Canadian employment jumped by 39,800 in December following November's 59,300 surge, well beyond the consensus forecast for a 5,000 job increase, according to figures released this morning by Statistics Canada.
The strong ending to 2012 sealed a decent quarter for hiring with the average monthly increase coming in at 33,600, faster than the 19,000 monthly increase recorded in the third quarter and 26,000 monthly pace recorded in the first half of the year. The unemployment rate ended 2012 at 7.1%, below the 7.5% at the end of 2011 and the lowest since December 2008.
In the month, jobs created were largely in the private sector with only a small increase in public sector employment. On an industry basis, service sector hiring rose again marking the fifth consecutive monthly gain while the goods-producing industries recovered 15,200 or 60% of jobs lost in October/November.
In the goods producing sector, gains were concentrated in manufacturing and construction. Service sector gains were broad based with the exception of professional and scientific services where 41,000 jobs were shed and public administration with 12,600 cuts. All jobs were full-time with part-time employment falling by 1,400.
In 2012, Canada's economy increased employment by 311,900 with 86,500 in the goods producing industries and 225,400 in the services sector. The majority of jobs created in the goods sector came from manufacturing where employment rose 53,600, the industry's best showing since 2002 and building on 2011's mild 16,000 increase.
The pace of construction hiring slowed in 2012, rising by 12,000 following the 100,000 increase recorded in the 2010-11 period. In the services producing sectors, the gains were concentrated in finance, insurance and real estate, education and health services.
