Another reflection on national vs local context:
Hamilton Jobless Rate Drops 1 Per Cent (Steve Arnold, Hamilton Spectator, Oct 8, 2011)
The latest figures from Statistics Canada show the Hamilton area posted an unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent in September. In human terms that means almost 27,000 people here are officially looking for work. Behind that number, however, the September jobs report shows the total number of people working in Hamilton has fallen and the portion of the population in the workforce has fallen while the total population has risen compared to last year.
“All of that suggests the unemployment rate is going down because people have stopped looking for work, “ said McMaster economist Arthur Sweetman. “It means people are dropping out of the workforce.”
The StatsCan report shows the population of the Grimsby-Hamilton-Burlington area grew by 6.5 per cent in the year between September 2010 and 2011 to 619,200. However, the area’s labour force fell 6.1 per cent to 401,200 from September 2010. That means 64.8 per cent of the population was in the labour force, down 1.7 per cent from a year ago. The portion of that group actually working also fell 1 per cent.
Hybrid Mode