Slowdown In Manufacturing Bumps Quebec's Jobless Rate Up

An assembly line worker at a St. Hyacinthe soup and military rations company that British company Baxters bought out in 2006. Photograph by: Marcos Townsend, Gazette file photo

From The Montreal Gazette:

Quebec's jobless rate will likely top nine per cent next year as the economy struggles with a slowdown in manufacturing, including aerospace, sharply shrinking private-sector payrolls and lower public-sector hiring, BMO Capital Markets said today.

Manufacturing shipments fell by 11 per cent year-to-year in the first four months of this year, the steepest rate of decline since the early 90s, the bank said. The overall economy will contract by 1.6 per cent this year before recovering by 1.9 per cent in 2010.

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