“The fact is that the Gallant government is not working for New Brunswickers, and New Brunswickers are not working under the Gallant government,” said NDP Interim Leader Rosaire L’Italien in reaction to the government’s job numbers.
In the budget the government claimed to have “supported the creation of almost 10,000 jobs; employment has increased by 5,300 since June 2016.”
“This is yet another example of the Gallant government’s smoke and mirrors,” claimed Mr. L’Italien.
“These figures are only talking about overall numbers, and not accounting for jobs that were lost during the same period. They are also heavily relying on part time jobs, jobs that cannot support families,” said Mr. L’Italien.
“The government is spinning its numbers to make themselves look good,” said Mr. L’Italien “If Brian Gallant grew the New Brunswick economy the way he grew his communications team, we would all be better off today.”
– In the past year, New Brunswick has lost 2,300 full time jobs.
– In the last three months, 1700 youth jobs have disappeared
– The unemployment rate has increased from 8.9% to 9.4% over the past year, well above the Canadian average of 6.9%
– Youth unemployment has risen in the past three months by 2.6%, from 11.8% to 14.4%) (which is well above the Canadian average of 12.6%
– In the last year, New Brunswick has lost 2,400 jobs in the natural resources sector.
– Since the Liberals took power, New Brunswick has lost 3,200 jobs in the natural resources sector (forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil, and gas).
Citations:
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&id=2820088
NOTE: all figures are from the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey results which are for December 2016. The next figures come out on Friday Feb 10th. When it says “in the last three months” it means from September to December 2016 (the last three months available)