June 2014 Canadian Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Technology is a job creator, not destroyer





51% of entrepreneurs say investments in technology have changed their workforce





According to a new EY survey, technology is a key driver of job creation among entrepreneurs. In fact, over half (51%) of the world's top entrepreneurs agree that investments made in technology have changed their workforce - 81% of those saying it's led them to hire.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian cities where real estate prices are actually falling





Despite warnings of bubbles about to burst in Canada`s major real-estate markets, there`s another side to the story: in some parts of the country, prices are actually falling.





Saskatchewan has been the hardest hit lately, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association`s MLS Home Price Index.





The price index in Regina fell 1.47 per cent from April 2013 to April of this year. From October last year to this April, meanwhile, it dropped 0.92 per cent in Regina and 0.34 in Saskatoon.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada's receptive oil patch in line for trillions in new investment





The first trillion dollars came over one hundred years. The next trillion is likely to take only a dozen.





Last week, Western Canada`s oil and gas industry celebrated its centenary in Turner Valley, Alta. Since the time a big metal spike repetitively bashed a hole in the earth at an oil well named Dingman #1, Canada has grown to be the world`s fifth-largest producer of crude oil and natural gas.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Part time job numbers rise, full time work declines





Statistics Canada says the economy created about 25,800 net new jobs last month, although all of them were part-time and the unemployment rate edged up to seven per cent as more Canadians went looking for work in May.





In terms of full-time work, the agency says the economy actually shed 29,100 jobs, a poor result that was papered over by the gain of 54,900 part-time jobs.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada job growth 'anaemic': Economists look behind the headline to bleak big picture





Canadian jobs data released on Friday shows that despite the numbers beating expectations, the economy is still struggling to recover despite a strengthening U.S. recovery, economists say.





Although Statistics Canada said the economy created a net 25,800 jobs in May, all of them were part-time. Full-time jobs dropped by 29,100, bringing the two-month loss to a round 60,000 positions.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Joe Oliver says national securities regulator could become reality by fall 2015





MONTREAL ` Canada`s finance minister believes the government`s long-sought goal of a single national securities regulator could become a reality by the next federal election, scheduled for the fall of 2015.





`I think it is very positive that Canada, British Columbia and Ontario entered into this agreement in principle [on a national regulator]. We`re expecting there will be a number of other provinces coming on board soon,` Joe Oliver told the Financial Post on Monday.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Why the U.S. recouping jobs lost during the recession is also good news for Canada





OTTAWA ` While Canada`s engine for job creation is sputtering, take some solace in the fact that U.S. employment growth is gaining traction.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Credit unions take on banks in mortgage wars with rates as low as 2.69%








The latest salvo in mortgage rates wars among financial institutions appears to be coming from credit unions, free from federal regulation and ready to take on the banks.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian home starts heat up to 7-month high in May





OTTAWA ` Canadian home construction showed surprising strength in May, beating market expectations and continuing to defy expectations of a slowdown as the pace of housing starts hit a seven-month high.





The 0.8 per cent gain in May to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 198,324 starts built on the previous month's rebound from the near five-year low of 157,500 set in March, which increasingly appears to have been related to unusually poor weather.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

May 2014 housing starts in Canada





OTTAWA, ONTARIO`(Marketwired ` June 9, 2014) - Housing starts in Canada were trending at 184,438 units in May compared to 183,872 in April, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)[sup](1) [/sup]of housing starts.





`In May, the trend in housing starts was virtually unchanged for the third consecutive month. This is in line with CMHC`s analysis indicating that the new home construction market in Canada is headed for a soft landing in 2014,` said Bruno Duhamel, Manager, Housing and Economic Analysis. `Builders are expected to continue to manage their starts activity in order to ensure that demand from buyers seeking new units is first channeled toward unsold completed units or unsold units that are currently under construction, including condominium units.`





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

World's richest people sitting on gigantic piles of cash that aren't earning them anything





Canny caution or bumbling oversight, the world`s richest people have retained huge stockpiles of zero-yielding cash throughout the recent surge in financial asset prices.





Their persistence may have, counter-intuitively, prolonged the buoyancy of those very assets in the process ` helping to inflate the outsize wealth of the super-rich further.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Booming Alberta expected to fuel bulk of Canadian job gains over the next two years





OTTAWA ` The Royal Bank says most of Canada will experience stronger economic growth this year and next, but only Alberta will see the kind of gains that will make a real impact on job creation.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

More than half of provinces have lost jobs in the past year





Canada`s economists can`t stop talking about last Friday`s jobs report. We at HuffPost have been harping on it too, and we promise to stop soon, but before we do, just one more thing.





As HuffPost noted on Friday, Alberta is just about the only place in Canada to have created a significant amount of jobs over the past year. BMO economist Benjamin Reitzes dug into the numbers and what he found is pretty stunning: The province created five times as many jobs in the past year as the rest of Canada combined.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Summer hiring underway, but young Canadians still having trouble finding jobs





Hirra Gilani has been searching for a summer job, without success, since March.





She`s graduating from Wilfrid Laurier University this week and plans to move on to a master`s degree in the fall.





Finding a way to earn some cash in-between semesters, as she`d like to do, is proving difficult.










Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Gap grows between building permits, number of new homes built





There is a widening gap between the number of building permits that developers are taking out and the number of new homes being built.






Why would that be? National Bank economist Marc Pinsonneault thinks it means that condo developers are scaling back their plans.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

The highest and lowest rents in Canada





TORONTO ` Are you a renter? If so, you may want to avoid Vancouver and think about moving to Sherbrooke.





According to new data collected in April by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the highest average monthly rents for two-bedroom, primary purpose-built apartments were in Vancouver ($1,274), Calgary ($1,267) and Toronto ($1,241).





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

CMHC guarantee puts taxpayers at risk, says OECD





The federal government needs to limit the percentage of a mortgage loan it is willing to insure against default in order to protect taxpayers if the overheated housing market goes bust, according to a new report on Canada by a major international think-tank.





In the first major survey of the Canadian economy in two years, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development takes particular aim at risks in the housing market, while also chiding the country`s environmental record, the oilsands and skills training.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian home prices hit record in May





Canadian home prices got a boost in May, hitting a record high, according to the Teranet National Bank house price index.





Prices were up 0.8 per cent in May from April.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian employers reveal where they will and won't be hiring over the coming months





Canadian employers say that they are planning to hire at a slightly faster rate in the third quarter of 2014, according to Manpower`s latest Employment Outlook survey released this morning.





This regular survey of hiring intentions predicts the slow and steady increases in employment that we have seen for the past few months will continue through the summer and into the fall. Workopolis made a similar prediction last week that job openings would continue to increase in Canada through the summer of 2014.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Here comes the echo boomer to save the housing market





There`s a new kid in town ready to save Canada`s housing market and maybe even the economy ` at least for a few more years.





A new report says that Canadian residential real estate has been getting a huge boost from so-called echo boomers, those in the 20-38 age bracket.





Read the full article here.