City’s goods employment reaches eight-year high

The capital region’s employment market finished 2017 on an unusual note as the goods producers outpaced government and other services in creating jobs.

Overall, the jobless rate for Ottawa-Gatineau dropped to 5.5 per cent in December compared to 5.8 per cent in November, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The change reflected a net increase of 3,300 jobs combined with a net rise of just 1,500 in the size of the labour force, which includes people looking for work.

These numbers are adjusted for seasonal influences so they can be compared month to month.

There were dramatic shifts by sector as solid gains in construction, manufacturing, education and hotels/restaurants offset job losses in government, retailing and real estate. Employment data by sector is not adjusted for seasonality though StatCan does use a three-month rolling average to smooth out the trend line.

On this basis, the capital region added 6,900 net new jobs in December compared to November, with 61 per cent of the gain contributed by the goods sector and just 39 per cent by service employers. This is remarkable considering employment among goods producers accounts for just 11 per cent of total jobs.

Manufacturing, which includes high-tech, added 1,600 jobs in December (900 attributed to tech) while construction improved by 1,300.

Even agriculture added 700 jobs, influenced in part by hiring at Hydropothecary, the Gatineau marijuana producer, and Canopy Growth. (Although the latter is based in Smiths Falls, employees are included in the Ottawa- Gatineau survey if that’s where they live.)

There were 81,400 jobs in the goods sector in December, the highest total in more than eight years.

Within the service sector, job gains in education (up 4,000 from November) and hotel and restaurants (up 5,200) were largely offset by declines in federal government employment (down 7,000), finance, insurance and real estate (off 1,900) and retailing (down 1,000).

StatCan estimates the number of federal government workers in the region at 128,900 in December, representing not quite 18 per cent of the workforce.

Caution is warranted with this data because it includes some contractors who aren’t directly employed by government, though they often work alongside federal employees.

The numbers are based on a household survey that doesn’t necessarily capture the distinction.

The decline in real estate jobs likely reflects the seasonal drop in the number of house and condominium listings.