Behind the jobs numbers, five trends to watch

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On the face of it, Canada's labour market is stuck, with little job creation in the past half year.

But behind the aggregate numbers, other stories are emerging of substantial ebbs and flows in how and where we're working. Here are five trends that bear watching in Canada's jobs market, are based on both Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey and its separately-released payroll employment and earnings data:

1. Financial jobs

Employment levels among financial jobs have taken the steepest five-month dive on record. Employment in the so-called FIRE category -- finance, insurance, real estate and leasing -- tumbled by 23,000 in January and are down by 4.6 per cent, or by 50,000 positions, from year-ago levels, according to the Labour Force Survey. So what's going on?

Breaking down the financial sector further, the five-month losses have been widespread, according to Statscan's analysts. They occurred among banks, as well as activities relating to real estate, insurance carriers, and rental and leasing services. The only industry without a decline in this period was securities, commodity contracts and other intermediation activities.

The reductions come as Canadian banks have signalled plans to cut costs to improve margins. They might also reflect a slowdown in both the country's real-estate market and the pace of construction.

A look at payrolls data echoes the trend -- employment fell in real-estate and leasing in both October and November, and declined in finance and insurance in October.

2. Natural resources

Natural resources employment has been going gangbusters in the past year, reflecting strong demand for the country's energy and minerals. This sector has posted the biggest one-year growth rate of all sectors -- 8.5 per cent, or 28,000 jobs, since January, 2011.

Numbers from Statscan's payrolls data echo this finding. They show the category called mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction has the highest growth rate in the country, at 9.1 per cent.

This helps explain why Alberta has the lowest jobless rate in the country. Worth noting, though, is that this sector still isn't a huge job creator in Canada. It employed 210,000 people in November, compared with 1.48 million people in manufacturing.

3. Youth versus older women

Young people are still having a tough time finding work -- and if anything, their situation has worsened. The jobless rate for those hit a 15-month high of 14.5 per cent last month from 14.1 per cent in December. Employment among those aged 15 to 24 has fallen for four months in a row. Youth employment is 31,000 below its level of January, 2011.

At the same time, women aged 55 and over continue to land jobs. Their employment rose once again last month, and this group has seen the biggest percentage gains in job growth of any demographic group over the past year.

4. Quebec

Much hoopla has been made over steep job losses in Quebec in the fourth quarter of last year. The losses were the steepest since the early 1980s slump between October and December, according to the Labour Force Survey.

But some say they might be overstated. They don't jibe with other economic data in the province, nor do they match with Statscan's payrolls data (which is published with a two-month lag).

A look at jobless rates by city sheds further light on what's going on in the province. This is not a uniform picture. In Saguenay, the unemployment rate is 5.6 per cent. In Quebec City, it's just 5 per cent, in Sherbrooke it is 6.8 per cent, and Gatineau 6.6 per cent. These are all well below the national average.

In Trois-Rivieres, however, the rate is 8.5 per cent, while in Montreal it rose to 9 per cent last month. This suggests much of the weakness is concentrated around Canada's second-largest city. Anecdotal evidence backs that up -- companies from home appliance-maker Mabe Canada to drug maker AstraZeneca PLC are slashing jobs.

5. Wages

We've reported on slow wage growth quite a bit in recent months. Given that inflation's been fairly strong, that means the real wages of Canadian workers are effectively falling -- something that helps explain why household finances are so pinched these days.

So where are wages the hottest right now?

The biggest annual wage increases, among Canada's top 10 industries, have occurred in administration and support services, with growth of 4.9 per cent, according to payrolls figures. But the weekly wage is $734.24 -- still well below other sectors.

Notably, wages are galloping ahead in the two smaller sectors that are paying the most. Wages have surged 7.8 per cent in the utilities sector to $1,705.73, while they've grown 3.7 per cent to $1,788.92 in the mining and energy sector.