Labour Force Survey Monthly

Labour Force Survey, September 2017

released October 6, 2017

Prince Edward Island Employment

September Unemployment Rate by Province
(seasonally adjusted, in percentage)

Unemployment Rate by Province
Month	CN	NF	PE	NS	NB	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC
September 2017	6.2	15.1	9.5	9.0	7.8	6.0	5.6	5.5	6.2	7.9	4.9
August 2017	6.2	14.7	8.8	8.9	7.8	6.1	5.7	4.9	6.4	8.1	5.1
September 2016	7.0	13.8	10.7	8.1	9.2	6.9	6.5	6.4	6.9	8.7	5.6
Annual Change (pp)	-0.8	1.3	-1.2	0.9	-1.4	-0.9	-0.9	-0.9	-0.7	-0.8	-0.7
Monthly Change (pp)	0.0	0.4	0.7	0.1	0.0	-0.1	-0.1	0.6	-0.2	-0.2	-0.2

Summary

Statistics Canada's September Labour Force Survey release shows that P.E.I.’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5 per cent in September 2017. This is up 0.7 percentage points from last month and down 1.2 percentage points from September 2016. Seasonally adjusted employment in September totaled 73,100, an increase of 1,600 from one year ago and down by 700 from August 2017. The annual increase was a result of an increase of 1,900 in full-time employment while part-time employment fell by 300. The number of unemployed persons on Prince Edward Island increased to 7,700, up by 600 from one month ago and down 900 from September 2016. The labour force participation rate stood at 65.1 in September, down 0.5 percentage points from September 2016. The total labour force increased by 600 from September 2016 to total 80,800.

The three-month moving average unemployment rate used by the Employment Insurance program for the Charlottetown region increased to 6.1 per cent in September, up from 5.7 per cent in August. This decreases the minimum number of hours needed to qualify for EI in this region by 35 from 700 hours to 665 hours and increases the minimum draw period by 1 week to 15 weeks. The rate in the PEI region in September was 13.9 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points from August 2017. The minimum number of hours needed to qualify for EI in this region remains unchanged at 450 hours while the minimum draw period decreases by 2 weeks to 26 weeks.

Employment gains (+)/ losses (-) between August 2016 and August 2017 occurred in the following sectors on Prince Edward Island:

Goods-producing sector:	+1,100	Service-providing sector:	+500
Agriculture:	-400	Trade (Retail/Wholesale):	+900
Other Primary Industries:	+400	Transport & Warehousing:	+300
Manufacturing:	+800	Finance, Insurance, Real Estate:	+100
Construction:	+500	Business Services:	-500
Utilities:	x	Professional, Scientific and Technical:	0
		Educational Services:	+400
		Health & Social Services:	+400
		Public Administration:	+100
		Information, Culture and Recreation:	-100
		Accommodation & Food services:	-700
		Other Services:	0

(Components may not sum to total due to rounding)

x: Suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act.

PEI Unemployment Rate

(Seasonally Adjusted)

Notes:

The LFS estimates for September are for the week of September 10 to 16.
The LFS estimates are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability. For more information, see the Statistics Canada publication "Interpreting Monthly Changes in Employment from the Labour Force Survey."
The next release of the LFS will be on November 3, 2017.

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey Estimates, released October 6, 2017.

Related downloads for this release:

Monthly Labour Force Survey report - PDF (100KB)

Monthly Labour Force Survey data file - Excel (280KB)

Published date:

October 6, 2017