Signs of the times

Manufacturing employment in Canada, as in the United States, is on a downward trend, despite the fact that in 2007, the proportion of employed people in Canada was at its highest level in at least three decades, while the national unemployment rate sank to a 33- year low of 5.8%.

Despite job losses, retail trade had been the largest creator of new jobs but was surpassed in 2007 by construction, and healthcare and social assistance. However, the gambling industry outpaced all other industries.

Statistics Canada reports:

• Employment in the gambling industry rose from 11,000 in 1992 to 46,000 in 2007.

• One in seven women and men living alone reported spending money on casinos, slot machines or VLTs; however, the men spent almost four times as much as the women – $1,667 compared with $446.

• Gambling participation and expenditure rates increased with household income. For example, 54% of households with incomes of less than $20,000 gambled in 2006 and spent an average of $469, while equivalent figures for those with incomes of $80,000 or more were 82% and $566.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.