The Honourable Don MacKinnon, Minister of Development, announced today that the recently released 1998 labour force numbers paint a very positive picture of Prince Edward Island's employment situation.
Commenting on the new numbers, Minister MacKinnon noted, "There were 61,000 Islanders employed on average last year which is the highest number since Statistics Canada began recording the numbers."
Other positive employment trends include a decline in the average number of people unemployed between 1997 and 1998. Prince Edward Island's employment rate (the percentage employed as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over) is the highest that it has ever been and now stands only slightly lower than the Canadian rate.
Minister MacKinnon said, "The numbers speak for themselves. The 1998 average number of people unemployed is the lowest it has been since 1990. The average unemployment rate (the unemployed as a percentage of the total labour force) is down one full percentage point between 1997 and 1998 to 13.9%. The average unemployment rate is the lowest that it has been since 1988."
"Labour force participation is a good indicator of economic activity in any region", stated Mr MacKinnon. "And Prince Edward Island is no exception. The labour force participation rate is the total number of people in the labour force as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over. In 1998, Prince Edward Island's annual participation rate is among the highest it has ever been. Once again, the Prince Edward Island annual participation rate of 66% exceeded the Canadian rate of 65%. In other words, there is a higher percentage of Island working age population in the labour force than there is for Canada. PEI has the highest participation rate in Atlantic Canada compared to Nova Scotia (60.6%), New Brunswick (60.9%) and Newfoundland (54.1%)."
Minister MacKinnon concluded, "We are looking forward to another excellent year in 1999 as we approach the new millennium."