Ottawa seems mixed currently, Houses are selling quite quickly, (maybe some downsizing going on...) I sold my house in November and was happy to get out of a larger house at a profit after 20 months.

On the other hand the hi-tech area in Kanata is taking a beating (Nortel) and I am again feeling very nervous on the TWP going though round after round of cuts.

On the upside for Ottawa the amount of government workers seems to stabilize the region to a certain extent. In fact more and more people i know are aspiring to a steady job and yearly pay rise type job in the government as opposed to private industry.

2009 in going to be just as tough, add in a wife, a child, one income and a TWP and it looks fraught.

That 120k job loss announced yesterday, is the moment this country (Canada) has stopped being dillusional. Until now, I don't think any analyst or politician was predicting anything worse than a mild recession with a recovery mid next year. To put it into context, it's the same as the UK losing 1/4 of a million jobs in a month.

The oil industry has collapsed, the car indsutry is in trouble, their biggest customer ie the US is broke, Canada is in it just as bad as the UK or anywhere else

Not so sure its as simple as that, the fact that Canada is such a diverse country in terms of industrial output has made it vulnerable across a wide range of sectors, and maybe it may take years for the country as a whole to get back on track?
BC has been hit hard by downturn in house sales and construction, which has had knock on consequences.

To put this in perspective unemployment rose in the UK by 131000 over the last quarter of 2008, the uk unemployment rate is 6.1% versus 7.2% in canada.

BBC says the unemployment rate in the UK is 7.6%:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7874955.stm

How do they count the unemployed anyway? I choose not to work, does that make me part of the 7.2%?

Thats a good question, theres no guarantee that figures are calculated in the same manner. I quoted the official government figures, which related to year end.

Hubby lost his job Thursday Living in small town SK and there isnt much else.

My sympathies go out to you.

Latest release from the Labour Force Survey

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-su...fs-epa-eng.htm

In January, the drop in employment was most pronounced in manufacturing, where the net loss totalled 101,000. There were declines in a number of other industries as well. The only industry with notable gains was health care and social assistance, where employment increased by 31,000.

Canada's three largest provinces accounted for the entire employment decrease in January. While just over half of employment losses were in Ontario (-71,000), there were also large declines in both British Columbia (-35,000) and Quebec (-26,000). Employment was little changed in all other provinces.

Employment fell mostly among core-age adults, 25 to 54 years, as well as among youths aged 15 to 24.

So sorry that must be very hard, hope things pick up soon for you

That is the US unemployment rate..the UK is hovering around 6.1%

Sorry to hear that. every thing happens for a reason .good luck

Sorry! You are correct

Does anyone know the answer to my question? Am I included in the 7.2% unemployed in Canada if I choose not to work?

Very curious

I always thought in the UK the unemployed figure was taken by calculating those who have signed on for Job Seekers Allowance as a percentage of the total workforce. If you are on Job Seekers Allowance you are supposedly actively seeking work and therefore "unemployed".

This isn't really a fair comparison for two reasons.

1) The UK figure is for November, whereas the Canadian figure is for January. I think it's pretty clear that unemployment rose considerably in those two months in the UK (30,000 jobs from Woolworths alone). By the end of this month Britain is expected to shed 300,000 jobs, according to HMRC.

2) The two countries seem to define unemployment differently. I'm not sure what the difference is, but at the height of the oil boom, Calgary still had a higher unemployment rate that deprived areas of East Kent! I think that the reality is different.

Of course, that's not to say that the Canadian economy isn't in trouble, like everywhere else in the world.