Job losses show recession has reached Ottawa
7,200 lost jobs in February the most in 27 months
By Bert Hill, The Ottawa Citizen March 13, 2009
OTTAWA — The national capital region lost 7,200 jobs in February, the biggest monthly loss in 27 months, as the global recession hit home.
Over the last two months, the Ottawa-Gatineau region has shed 13,000 jobs, wiping out the gains, and more, of the last year.
However, the unemployment rate edged up just 0.1 per cent in February to 4.8 per cent as thousands of people decided not look for work. The number of people reporting they were employed rose a modest 700 to 33,800.
While most other major Canadian cities have experienced significant job losses as the recession moved across the country, the capital region escaped the early impact because of a big and stable public sector and healthy consumer spending. The lone exception was a technology sector that has been feeling the pain of the recession for months.
But the holiday from the recession is now over. In February, the Ottawa-Gatineau region had 1,900 fewer jobs than it had a year earlier.
The job losses last month were heaviest in Ottawa where 5,300 jobs were lost, compared to 1,900 jobs in Gatineau.
Across the country, Statistics Canada said that employment fell by 83,000 in February, bringing total losses since the peak of last October to 295,000. The unemployment rate rose 0.5 per cent.
All of the employment losses in February were in full-time jobs with a loss of 111,000, partially offset by gains in part-time employment.
In February, the largest decline in employment occurred in Ontario (-35,000), followed by Alberta (-24,000) and Quebec (-18,000).
7,200 lost jobs in February the most in 27 months
By Bert Hill, The Ottawa Citizen March 13, 2009
OTTAWA — The national capital region lost 7,200 jobs in February, the biggest monthly loss in 27 months, as the global recession hit home.
Over the last two months, the Ottawa-Gatineau region has shed 13,000 jobs, wiping out the gains, and more, of the last year.
However, the unemployment rate edged up just 0.1 per cent in February to 4.8 per cent as thousands of people decided not look for work. The number of people reporting they were employed rose a modest 700 to 33,800.
While most other major Canadian cities have experienced significant job losses as the recession moved across the country, the capital region escaped the early impact because of a big and stable public sector and healthy consumer spending. The lone exception was a technology sector that has been feeling the pain of the recession for months.
But the holiday from the recession is now over. In February, the Ottawa-Gatineau region had 1,900 fewer jobs than it had a year earlier.
The job losses last month were heaviest in Ottawa where 5,300 jobs were lost, compared to 1,900 jobs in Gatineau.
Across the country, Statistics Canada said that employment fell by 83,000 in February, bringing total losses since the peak of last October to 295,000. The unemployment rate rose 0.5 per cent.
All of the employment losses in February were in full-time jobs with a loss of 111,000, partially offset by gains in part-time employment.
In February, the largest decline in employment occurred in Ontario (-35,000), followed by Alberta (-24,000) and Quebec (-18,000).
