Payroll employment for the month of May fell for the first time in more than seven years
Losses in construction employment visibly affected the overall number of jobs across Canada in May, according to the latest ADP Canada National Employment Report.
The monthly measure, which looks at changes in total Canadian non-farm payroll employment, showed that the national payroll fell by 16,020 jobs in May.
While this was just a miniscule 0.10% decline from April, “this is the first monthly decline for May in over 7 years,” Better Dwelling wrote in its analysis of the report. “Declines aren’t unusual, but typically employment rises in May.”
The construction industry lost 11,223 jobs in May, suffering its first decline for that month over the past 3 years.
“It’s also the largest decline over the past seven years. The shift is something worth watching.”
These results came amid the noticeably lower volume of housing starts in May, CMHC data indicated.
Weaker construction activity in the single-family sector pulled nationwide starts down to 201,983 – considerably below April’s 205,717 units.
“The national trend in housing starts decreased in May as a result of continuing decline in the trend for single starts as well as a decline in the trend of multi-unit starts that follows gains in this segment in recent months, in urban areas,” CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan explained.
“The decrease in the trend of multi-unit starts reflects a decline in the SAAR level of multi-unit activity in May from the unusually elevated level registered in April, which leaves multi-unit SAAR starts closer to its 10-year average.”
