The Good News?  It was expected that there would be about 15,000 new jobs added in January 2010...and instead there was 43,000!

The Bad News?  The majority of these new jobs are part-time positions, and youth employment...

And that means....?

Businesses in Canada, still stung and cautious following the recession of 2008-2009, are slowly beginning to hire…or more accurately RE-hire. The current surprising explosion of part-time roles is a boon for those excited to join or rejoin the workforce but it does not accurately reflect the state of full-time professional positions in the country.

An increase in hiring is certainly a step in the right direction!!  However, these are not NEW jobs so much as recovering jobs, especially in the youth sector.  CLC Senior Economist Sylvain Schetagne compared these numbers to those of October 2008:

‘Since that month, 341,900 full-time jobs have been lost by working Canadians. Half of these lay-offs occurred for those in the 15 to 24 age group. They lost 170,400 out of the 341,900 full-time jobs lost since October 2008. The unemployment rate among 15 to 24 year-olds went from 12.2% to 16.1% between October 2008 and December 2009, leaving 458,400 Canadians aged 15-24 unemployed last month. ‘

So while the trending up of jobs is a positive sign, we must keep in mind that this neither reflects a majority full-time roles OR a real uptick in youth and part-time numbers…it is simply a move back to pre-recessionary levels, and yet has a way to go!

The full Reuters report can be viewed at New Canada Job Numbers

As mentioned earlier, it’s an excellent time to have your resume in top shape for the opportunities that are now emerging!  If you have any questions about making your resume the best it can be, contact David!

Good hunting!