The May 2014 numbers are out from Statscan. On the surface the numbers for Ontario don't seem terrible, but as usual when you dig beneath the surface there's some rot.
Employment went up by 14.8K month to month, which is good considering that the eligible population went up only 9.4K. However full-time jobs went down 30.4K versus a 45.2K gain in part-time jobs. That's not great for a lot of reasons. One important one is that Ontario's income tax system with its various surtaxes is heavily weighted towards those with higher incomes. Part-time workers making 15 to 20 thousand `dollars a year don't pay a lot of Ontario income taxes. Or sales taxes either as more of their purchases will go towards things like food and rent which don't have HST on them.
The full year numbers are also instructive. Eligible population went up 138.8K, however employment only went up 39.4 K. Part-time was up 57.8 K while depressingly full-time employment was down 18.4 K. So over a year, full-time employment declined despite an increase in population. That's not good for government revenue. That's probably not great for government costs either as those not working likely consume more government services.
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