By Winnipeg Sun[/size]

Manitoba posted the best unemployment rate in Canada last month, according to figures released by Statistics Canada on Friday.

The monthly labour force statistics show Manitoba had a 4.9% unemployment rate in April, the lowest in the country. Saskatchewan, which had led the country in that category for quite some time, was second with 5.2%, while the national average was 8.1%.

Manitoba gained 6,800 jobs in April, bringing the total number of positions in the province to 619,000. Nearly all of the gain was in full-time positions.

The province also gained jobs when compared with April 2009. The statistics show Manitoba gained nearly 15,000 jobs over the past year, with the majority being part-time posts.

The country as a whole also gained jobs in April, both compared to the previous month and year over year.

JTF wrote:My life is hardly black. Where did that come from?
You wish to pretend things are always great and I'm fricked up? Okey dokey.

Bartron wrote:So some numbers come out that look positive and some people still find something to whine about. I have to agree with grumpy on this one, it must suck to live in super negative world.

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba economy lost 3,300 jobs in April, but the provincial unemployment rate still dropped because of the disappearance of 6,000 workers from the labour force, new Statistics Canada figures show.

The agency said today there were 658,100 Manitobans working or looking for work in April, versus 664,100 in the labour force in March.

So even though the economy shed 3,300 jobs during the month, the unemployment rate still fell to 5.2 per cent from 5.5 per cent in March because of the 6,000 labour force defections.

And with fewer people looking for work, the number of unemployed Manitobans — people still looking for a job but unable to find one — declined by 2,700 to 34,100. That drove down the unemployment rate to 5.2 per cent — second lowest in the country — from 5.5 per cent in March.

Nationally, Canada saw its unemployment rate improve to 7.6 per cent from 7.7 per cent in March, thanks to the creation of 58,000 new jobs in April. The job gains, which were mainly part-time positions, came after two consecutive months of little change in employment levels.

StatsCan said Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador were the only two provinces with notable employment gains in April, and Manitoba and Nova Scotia were the only ones with significant losses. The rest saw little change in employment levels.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

OTTAWA—The Canadian labor market rebounded strongly in April, with 58,300 jobs created in the month after a slight loss in March, and full-time employment returning to levels last recorded at the start of the recession, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The jobless rate in April fell to 7.6% from 7.7% in March.

The April labor data might "dampen some budding concerns that the North American economy was losing serious steam," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. "The details of the release were a little less ebullient—still respectable, but hardly rip roaring."

Triniman wrote:Unemployment numbers have always been a bit of a scam because they don't take into account those on welfare and those who have given up looking. They don't want us to know how bad things really are. But this is the SOP for all governments.

There is truth in what both JTF and GOM are saying.

Outsider wrote:The only figures which should count to give us a true picture across Canada:

1. Total population including children. (If you are breathing you count.)
2. Total population working. (You are either working for a cheque or you are not.)

Also it would help us to know:

- Total population working for one of the governments in some capacity.