It’s good to be a scientist these days in Canada — or a logger.
StatsCan’s latest survey of payroll employment, earnings and hours shows Canada created 48,000 jobs in January, largely in line with the agency’s earlier labour force survey for the month.
Suffice to say, the oil industry wasn’t a big driver of job growth (see slideshow below). Nor was the retail sector. But some surprising parts of the economy are showing strength, among them logging and scientific services, which topped job growth, by percentage, in January.
Maybe more surprising is the fact that there was any job growth at all. StatsCan reported on Tuesday that Canada’s economy shrank in January, and pretty much all the other economic indicators have been flashing red as well. Manufacturing and retail sales both fell 1.7 per cent that month (though manufacturers apparently hired an additional 1,600 people) and wholesale sales saw their biggest drop in six years.
So where is Canada’s job-market strength coming from? Beats us. Let’s just consider ourselves lucky, at least for now.
Here are the industries that are, and aren’t, creating jobs in Canada. Keep in mind these numbers are “backward-looking” — they tell you what has happened in the job market, not what will happen. All the same, it’s one useful gauge of where you are and aren’t likely to find work.
