Canadian construction employment dropped by 18,000 in July

Daily Commercial News: Employment in Canada declined by 45,000 positions in July, with construction employment decreasing by 18,000, bringing total losses in that sector since October to 120,000, according to numbers released today by Statistics Canada. The national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.6 per cent, as fewer people participated in the labour market. There were increases in retail and wholesale trade jobs (+24,000), while employment in manufacturing was little changed in July. Most of July’s employment losses were in Quebec (-37,000), as well as in Saskatchewan (-5,000) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-2,800). Employment was little changed in all other provinces. Employment in Ontario edged up in July as continued declines in construction were offset by gains in the services sector, StatsCan said. Since the start of the downturn last fall, employment has decreased by 2.4 per cent at the national level, with the largest declines in Ontario (-3.3 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (-2.8 per cent), British Columbia (-2.7 per cent) and Alberta (-2.4 per cent). Nationwide, young people bore the brunt of the downturn, with employment in July among those aged 15 to 24 dropping by 38,000 and by 23,000 among women aged 25 to 54. Since the peak in October 2008, employment among those aged 15 to 24 has decreased by 205,000 and by 201,000 among men aged 25 to 54. July’s unemployment rate for students climbed to 20.9 per cent, a 7.1 percentage point increase from July 2008. This was the highest July unemployment rate for these students since comparable data became available in 1977, StatsCan said. Employment among private sector employees fell by 75,000 in July, bringing total losses since October to 436,000. But this was offset by the number of self-employed, which increased by 35,000 in July. Since October, self-employment has risen by 75,000, mostly in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing; professional, scientific and technical services; and “other services,” StatsCan said.

As predicted, as the Olympic projects approached full completion, there will be less and less demand for construction works.

Recently, there has been so much discussion about the HST coming out next July, those in the construction industry has reflected their priority to rush projects to be completed before. the HST dateline So after next July, there will be huge drop in both construction employment as well as real estate prices.

One good thing for developers if they can complete the project before next July, they can pay off the GST first at 5% and hold off till after HST is in place to put up the properties for sale at either the price before tax adjustment or at a higher price. Either should benefit the developers.