Still in the Hole
Labour Force Survey revisions announced in the Daily today show that total employment has still not recovered to pre recession levels.
“Compared with the employment peak of October 2008, employment in December 2010 was lower by 30,000 (-0.2%) based on the revised LFS estimates.
Between the employment peak of October 2008 and the recent low in July 2009, the revised LFS estimates show an employment decline of 428,000 (-2.5%). Between July 2009 and December 2010, the revised LFS estimates indicate employment increased by 398,000 (+2.4%).”
Methinks the Conservatives may have to revise their talking points re our miraculous recovery. Though the revised numbers will flatter the productivity data.
ahhh the game of stats, 30K is not even significant on the total employment given the S.E., but hey, politically it is significant and we’ll take it.
Is this a nasty bite onto the hand that takes away the legitimacy of a neo con-census?
Pt
Of course, even if total employment reaches the previous level, the rate’s still lower because of population growth, not so?
Yes the employment rate will be lower as long as that is measured as a percent of total employment / total population between 15 and over. As per stats Canada
“Employment rate: (employment/population ratio)
Number of employed persons expressed as a
percentage of the population 15 years of age and
over. The employment rate for a particular group
(age, sex, marital status, province, etc.) is the number
employed in that group expressed as a percentage of
the population for that group.”
It is an interesting metric because it does not rely on status as does the unemployment rate.