Canoe

Wednesday, March 7, 2001

Employers seeking fewer workers

OTTAWA (CP) -- Employers appeared to be seeking fewer workers for the second month in a row in February, a Statistics Canada survey indicates.

The agency's help wanted index fell by 3.4 per cent in February, following a 2.2 per cent decline in January, it reported Wednesday.

The index is based on the number of help wanted ads in 22 newspapers in 20 major metropolitan areas across the country. A rising index suggests employers are seeking more workers, a falling index that they need fewer workers.

How the latest indicator translated into jobs will be known Friday when Statistics Canada releases employment-unemployment figures for February. The January unemployment rate was 6.9 per cent.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), March 07, 2001