Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS), which includes data up to May of this year. The LFS provides estimates on a variety of employment indicators, such as the unemployment rate. While they are estimates, they provide a good indicator on how Canadian provinces are doing creating jobs. So just how has Manitoba been doing recently?

At first glance, the numbers look very promising. Since the start of the year Manitoba has produced 10,800 full-time jobs, over two and a half times the amount produced in Saskatchewan. There were some part-time jobs losses however, leaving Manitoba up a total of 8,400 jobs since the start of the year. In percentage terms that is a 1.32% increase, the third largest increase amongst all provinces.

However if you look at monthly averages, the results are much less promising. From June 2016 to May 2017, there were on average 635,900 people employed in Manitoba. While that sounds like a lot, compared to the 12 preceding months that is only an increase of 1,200, a growth rate of 0.2%. More disconcerting is when it comes to full-time jobs, on average Manitoba is only up 400 full-time jobs. This is important to note as full-time jobs are typically more stable and higher paying than part-time jobs.

Hopefully the positive start we have seen so far in 2017 carries over into the rest of the calendar year.