Employment gain in April driven by part-time work / La hausse de l’emploi observée en avril est attribuable au travail à temps partiel

[audreyl]

The employment gain in April 2023 was driven by part-time work. Here are some highlights from the latest Labour Force Survey :

• Employment rose by 41,000 (+0.2%) in April 2023, all in part-time work.
• The unemployment rate was 5.0% in April 2023, unchanged since December 2022. This remained near the record low of 4.9% observed in June and July 2022.

We are Canada’s national statistical agency. We are here to engage with Canadians and provide them with high-quality statistical information that matters! Publishing in a subreddit does not imply we endorse the content posted by other redditors.

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La hausse de l’emploi observée en avril 2023 est attribuable au travail à temps partiel. Voici quelques points saillants des plus récents résultats de l’Enquête sur la population active :

• L’emploi a augmenté de 41 000 (+0,2 %) en avril 2023, et toute la hausse est survenue dans le travail à temps partiel.
• Le taux de chômage s’est établi à 5,0 % en avril 2023, ce qui est inchangé depuis décembre 2022 et qui demeure près du creux record de 4,9 % observé en juin et en juillet 2022.

Nous sommes l’organisme national de statistique du Canada. Nous sommes ici pour discuter avec les Canadiens et les Canadiennes et leur fournir des renseignements statistiques de grande qualité qui comptent! Le fait de publier dans un sous-reddit ne signifie pas que nous approuvons le contenu affiché par d'autres utilisateurs de Reddit.

 

[annecpo]

@audreyl Can we just appreciate how Statistics Canada posts here, in the two official languages, to provide us with information relevant to our financial interests?

I love it!

 

[audreyl]

@annecpo Thanks for the nice comment, @annecpo. Happy to be here!

 

[liveinmyheart]

@audreyl You guys are great

 

[elizabeth89]

@annecpo Too bad the gov as a whole doesnt communicate or be transparent

 

[sa_m]

@audreyl 48,000 new part time jobs but only a net gain of 41,000 (all in part-time work) does that mean -7,000 full time jobs?

If I’m understanding correctly this seems really bad.

 

[joshfl]

@sa_m Note that 18.1% of the workforce is part time employed, this is down from 18.7% a year earlier. Of the part time workers, only 15.2% would prefer a full-time position. Not everyone is looking for full-time work.

Also, there is a reason that stat-can characterized the full-time number as 'held-steady', the change isn't as significant. Especially considering that 80%+ of jobs are full time.

 

[abenezer]

@joshfl is that 15.2% of workers or 15.2% of part time workers?

 

[joshfl]

@abenezer 15.2% of part time workers.

 

[jaylee]

@sa_m It probably does mean less full time jobs.

But is it really bad? Bad of course for us people, but that might also be a sign of the (mild or not) recession, which BOC always wanted. That might be the only way we can ease the crazy inflation.

 

[sa_m]

@jaylee Maybe also looking through the job gain/loss distribution it’s pretty rough.

Biggest winners low paying (part time) sectors
Retail
Transport/Warehousing
Culture/Recreation

Biggest losers high paying professional sectors
Business
Finance
Science and Technology

Looks like we lost about 30-40k professional university jobs for 70-80k part time high school jobs.

I mean sure the employment number is up but yikes from a national GDP perspective, a professional job is probably worth 3-4 part time retail jobs.

 

[brian19]

@sa_m

a professional job is probably worth 3-4 part time retail jobs.

Which is the "soft landing" the BoC was looking for. Decimating high paying jobs while not seeing people completely left without a way to make an income has been the goal all along.

 

[joshfl]

@sa_m Yet average hourly wages is up 5.2% YoY (+$1.66 to $33.38).

 

[sa_m]

@joshfl Except we’re talking about people moving from full time (40 hours) to part time (less then 30), wages would need to increase over 25% to offset the drop in hours.

$33.38 x 40 is a very different income then $33.38 x 30.

 

[joshfl]

@sa_m Average hours worked is also up +3.9% YoY (+1.3 hours to 34.4 hours).

This makes sense as the overall trend is a decrease in part time workers YoY (18.7% -> 18.1%)

• Average Hours Worked - https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl...dYear=2023&referencePeriods=20220401,20230401

 

[brian19]

@sa_m

Except we’re talking about people moving from full time (40 hours) to part time (less then 30)

Statscan defines full-time as "usually worked 30 hours or more per week". Nobody is talking about 40 hours. Where did you dream that one up?

 

[sa_m]

@brian19 I’m learning so much today,

Part time retail jobs are actually better for the economy then professional STEM jobs and that part time and full time are actually the same thing. Thanks for teaching me so much.

 

[esdras]

@sa_m Yup, lots of people I know moved to part time during/after pandemic because they make way more money than a FT gig and love the flexibility of working when they want

I'm working with a couple of consultants who quit from their FT gig and are working PT now to have more time for family and travel while making more money than before

A lot of my wife's coworkers switched to part time for way more pay as well and more flexibility (nursing)

The money from PT is pretty good nowadays especially for people mid career or higher that they don't need to work ft

 

[brian19]

@sa_m In receiving a message about 30 hours being full-time, per the definition used by the source of this information, you learned that part-time retail jobs are better than professional STEM jobs for the economy...?

Well, let me tell you that these figures come from the month of April. I can't wait to hear about the mind-blowing things you are able to learn from that. I'm betting you learn how to solve world hunger!

 

[sa_m]

@brian19 Lol No. The other guy is commenting saying swapping professional full time jobs for part time retail jobs isn’t an issue because average hourly wages are up. When I pointed out that full time hours are different then part time hours leading to a very different income, you decided to chime in with your AcKtUaLlY full time is more then 30.