Statistics Canada is out with its latest labour force survey and there is some interesting data in there related to New Brunswick.
First, on an annualized basis, the province is estimated to have added almost 5k jobs in 2006 a 1.4% increase in employment. This was well below the national growth rate but the best in Atl. Canada (we haven’t been able to say that recently).
But there is a warning in this report. From December 2005 to December 2006, the size of the labour force in New Brunswick is down 1.6% (the steepest decline in Canada) and total employment is down 0.3% (again the steepest decline in Canada).
It is difficult to look at specific monthly labour force data in isolation but it would seem that the labour market continues to tighten as more and more people move out (net out-migration in the last year available was the highest in years) and the number of jobs slightly increases.