WINNIPEG- The latest employment numbers show Manitoba’s economy is on an upswing. Statistics Canada figures for October show 8,000 people were hired in the province.
The new jobs helped bring Manitoba’s unemployment rate down 0.3 per cent to 5 per cent. Looking year-over-year, there were 11,000 more jobs this October compared to last year.
“We’re being cautiously optimistic as we look at these job numbers,” said Kevin Chief, the newly appointed minister of jobs and the economy.
A big chunk of the new hires, more than 13,000 since October last year, came form the public sector, including health care, education and government administration.
The provincial government says it knows paying its workers is expensive.
“I know we have commitments on that but it is something we’re watching and keeping a close eye on,” said Chief.
Michael Benarroch, the dean of the Asper School of Business, says growth in the public sector can’t be sustained.
“Publicly funded jobs in Manitoba will probably be hard to come by in the next year or two as the government really tries to restrain its spending,” said Benarroch.
He says the key to a stable economy isn’t through government jobs.
“What would be positive would to see some growth in private sector employment that would be sustained for a while,” said Benarroch.
That is where training in the trades factors in. “We just need more and more kids looking at these opportunities,” said Paul Holden, the president of the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT).
Students like Evan Erickson. He is taking construction at MITT, “I love it,” said Erickson. “I can’t wait to get my foot in the door and make some money.”
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