November 2007, vol. 9, no. 3 - Job Creation

According to the latest Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours from Statistics Canada, the number of payroll employees continued to increase in the first quarter of 2007 by 285 728 compared with the first quarter of 2006 (Table 2). However, this increase corresponds to an annual growth of 2.1 percent, the lowest over the past four quarters. Large firms represented roughly half of the employment growth (52.9 percent) over the last year in Canada. Employment growth over the same period was 19.4 percent from medium-sized businesses and 27.7 percent from small businesses.¹ Compared with the previous quarter, the contribution from small businesses decreased by 10.1 percentage points.

Table 2: Year-Over-Year Net Change¹ in Payroll Employment² by Industry, First Quarter 2007

Quarter	Change		% Contribution to Total Net Change (Number of Employees)
	%	Jobs	0–4	5–19	20–49	50–99	0–99	100–299	300–499	100–499	500+
Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, September 2007. 1 Year-over-year net change in payroll employment is calculated as the variation between the level of employment in a given quarter and the level in the same quarter a year before. 2 Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours data exclude self-employed workers who are not on a payroll and employees in the following industries: agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organizations and military personnel of defence services. The data breaking down employment by size of firm also exclude unclassified industries.
Q1 2006	2.7	351 389	5.2	10.7	11.7	9.6	37.1	14.4	0.7	15.1	47.8
Q2 2006	2.8	379 019	6.2	11.2	11.4	9.9	38.7	10.3	2.8	13.0	48.2
Q3 2006	2.5	332 268	4.9	8.1	10.0	9.7	32.7	8.6	4.0	12.5	54.8
Q4 2006	2.3	320 298	11.6	1.0	13.0	12.2	37.8	7.2	5.3	12.6	49.6
Q1 2007	2.1	285 728	-1.7	9.9	11.9	7.5	27.7	11.8	7.6	19.4	52.9
Industry			Growth (Jobs), First Quarter 2007
Forestry	-9.6	-5 264	-497	-1 097	-1 499	-260	-3 353	-821	-1 580	-2 401	491
Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction	9.9	17 029	823	1 318	1 542	908	4 591	1 447	2 509	3 956	8 484
Utilities	0.3	372	105	305	27	-54	383	-232	1 080	848	-860
Construction	4.9	31 614	6 791	5 106	6 250	4 150	22 297	3 030	1 848	4 878	4 439
Manufacturing	-2.4	-44 182	-3 333	-241	-5 745	-7 086	-16 405	-5 277	7 562	2 285	-30 061
Wholesale trade	2.5	17 817	-338	1 772	1 795	1 092	4 321	-487	6 830	6 343	7 153
Retail trade	3.8	62 787	-3 380	753	3 744	2 013	3 130	15 325	636	15 961	43 696
Transportation and warehousing	2.7	16 549	-309	356	-555	458	-50	174	-353	-179	16 778
Information and cultural industries	1.2	4 257	-200	372	-322	1 921	1 771	712	1 852	2 564	-80
Finance and insurance	3.7	21 982	-66	399	-44	152	441	-1 749	639	-1 110	22 649
Real estate and rental and leasing	0.9	2 267	-248	1 756	1 188	1 266	3 962	1 561	760	2 321	-4 017
Professional, scientific and technical services	3.8	26 207	-688	6 402	3 536	3 038	12 288	4 780	1 056	5 836	8 082
Management of companies and enterprises	-0.7	-637	687	655	966	536	2 844	689	-329	360	-3 840
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services	2.5	16 478	864	3 005	2 283	754	6 906	2 348	4 653	7 001	2 571
Educational services	1.9	21 650	389	925	1 248	-41	2 521	809	-2 609	-1 800	20 929
Health care and social assistance	2.3	32 706	1 041	5 375	5 643	3 424	15 483	-2 893	-2 442	-5 335	22 559
Arts, entertainment and recreation	1.9	4 041	3	108	-13	616	714	680	-1 429	-749	4 076
Accommodation and food services	3.9	36 572	-6 373	-531	12 198	8 889	14 183	7 855	1 861	9 716	12 674
Other services (excluding public administration)	2.1	10 595	-15	1 379	1 483	-120	2 727	1 287	277	1 564	6 303
Public administration	1.6	12 888	-139	273	387	-152	369	4 399	-1 110	3 289	9 232
Canada total	2.1	285 728	-4 883	28 389	34 112	21 506	79 124	33 634	21 712	55 346	151 257

In the first quarter of 2007, year-over-year employment growth was highest in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector at 9.9 percent. Construction (4.9 percent), accommodation and food services (3.9 percent), retail trade (3.8 percent) and professional, scientific and technical services (3.8 percent) were the next sectors that grew the most. The sector with the largest increase in the number of new jobs among small businesses was the construction sector (22 297 jobs), followed by the health care and social assistance sector (15 483 jobs).

Between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2006, job declines were reported in forestry (-9.6 percent), manufacturing (-2.4 percent), and management of companies and enterprises (-0.7 percent). The manufacturing sector experienced the greatest number of jobs lost at 44 182, of which 16 405 were lost among small businesses and 30 061 were lost among large businesses.

¹ Small businesses are defined as having fewer than 100 employees, medium-sized businesses having 100 to 499 employees and large businesses having 500 or more employees.

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