Canada's Economy is Growing

I was spending some reading a few articles online today and came across another interesting one. While I was on CBCs website I found an article about the Canadian economy. In April of this year 19,200 jobs were created. Although this is good news for the economy the national unemployment rate went up by a tenth of a percentage point mostly because more people began to look for work. This really is not a bad thing, I must say my reaction to the news is a little mixed.

Inside the article I found that the majority of the jobs were in the food services sector which is known for lower paying positions. On the plus side 16,000 jobs were added in the construction sector - a very seasonal sector, gains are mostly expected to rise in Canada's second season: Construction. Now granted that jobs were added in both the food services and construction sectors both have some draw backs. Housing markets are cooling at least that is what I am reading which really cannot be all that good for sustainability. But there is a silver lining, our country is growing despite all the talk about recession in the US.

At least in the face of adversity our Canadian Dollar is still holding its ground. Even if there are some mixed reports about job growth in Canada the overall picture that I am getting from the article is that Canadians are buying into our own markets. One of the keys to keeping our GDP on track is to support our own industries and rely less on imports for the many things we purchase everyday. I have never claimed to be an expert economist but I do like sharing my opinion; in any case even though there are mixed reactions to the news, there still are more hurdles to jump over. For example: crude oil continues to become more expensive but the problem with oil is that if you use less they're going to raise the price anyway. The cost of gas is not the only problem facing us today but it is one of the most broadcast problems.

Part of our problem lies with the snails pace of battery technology. We have the knowledge to build and produce electric cars for the market but current battery technology limits the range on these vehicles to about 20km don't hate me if this number is wrong, its an old number there may have been some advancements. But I seem to be going on a tangent again, back to the article.

The Bank of Canada is still wary of our domestic economies robustness as the weakening in the US markets continues. A strong Canadian dollar has been the reason for a lot of closures in Canada last year and this year. The company I work for used to have a manufacturing plant in Canada, shortly after the dollar peaked and was trading for $1.10 with the US One Hundred and Sixty-Three people were laid off and the manufacturing went back down to the US. Our domestic robust economy certainly could be linked to the withdrawal of US manufacturing companies and a lot of people showing an entrepreneurial spirit. I don't know every thing but I like to think positive. In any case this has been my opinion, what do you think?

News Story: Canadian economy adds 19,200 jobs