In the past year, employment has increased 10 times faster among older workers than younger workers, according to Statistics Canada.
Its Labour Force Survey for January finds that employment among workers 55 and over has jumped 8% in the last 12 months compared to a 0.8% increase among workers aged 25 to 54.
“Older workers have captured a large share of employment gains, owing in part to the growth of this group within an aging Canadian population and in part to the steady rise in their employment rate since 1997,” says the survey.
In January, employment grew an estimated 46,000 in January, pushing the unemployment rate back down from 5.9% to 5.8%—matching the 33-year low reported in October 2007.
Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest unemployment rate (12.2%) in the country among the 10 provinces while Alberta (3.2%) had the lowest.
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